SHARE Magazine April 2017 | Page 12

WORLD Tensions, Territory, Trade, T W What an eventful quarter? We picked the most volatile issues to watch. If the following 5 Northeast Asian countries get trigger happy, we could be shifting attention away from the Middle East to the Far East, as the new epicentre of a global nuclear meltdown. We advise you to prayerfully follow the links and read the backstories. Naughty North Korea Leader Kim Jong-un, Initiates new tensions in Northeast Asian fall out by pursuing aggressive nuclear missile testing in the region. This reckless policy makes him appear as a petulant child playing with dangerous toys. As he makes his bold show of force the USA have responded by testing *THAAD in South Korea and Japan has followed by sending troops to join in these peremptory military exercises with the view to suring up their defences in the case of a North Korean nuclear attack. What does he expect to achieve by triggering a nuclear war in the region? *Terminal High Altitude Area Defense - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_High_ Altitude_Area_Defense Contrary China China has begun pursuing retaliatory trade policy on South Korea, aimed at disrupting its trade into China, for preparing a defence against North Korean Missiles (THAAD). Lotte Group a S. Korean company did a land swap of a golf course with the S. Korean government to facilitate an area to test THAAD. China’s response was to punish them by subsequently 12 | SHARE | MAGAZINE April - June 2017 closing down all Lotte stores in China for “failing to meet safety standards” customs regulations were levied on K- Cosmetics, also K- pop artists, K-drama actors are banned from performing and filming in China. Another blow was to South Korean tourism industry, all charted/packaged tours to S. Korean destinations were banned. Chinese Anti-Korean sentiment also spilled over into the public arena where stores in the Korean quarter of China are vandalized and left like ghost towns as they have been abandoned by Chinese customers. Korean flags have also been publicly torn and Koreans physically assaulted. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense has warned South Korea that its opposition to THAAD won’t end with just words. [1] In spite of S.Korea’s plea for China to cease its retaliation China is planning to send warplanes to the Spratly Islands as further response to THAAD. Is S. Korea not expected to defend itself against unprovoked threats? China is the keycard holder in this diplomatic standoff. Only China has the clout to convince N. Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. Can China not see the mutual benefits in a unified Korea? Instead China uses N. Korea as leverage, placing its own ideology above the welfare of the surrounding people? Communism is supposed to be an improvement on democracy; the realisation of egalitarian, enlightenment; it is meant to banish authoritarian monarchical regimes of the past lifting the oppression of Tyrants from off of the people. How are Communists countries today any better off than what they supposedly stepped away from? How contrary then, is the One China policy? In pursuance of this policy China refuses to give Hong Kong Independence and still criminalises any sentiment of self rule in Taiwan. Proverbially, Orwell’s observation of communism that “All Pigs are equal but some pigs are more equal than others” still rings true today. How are all people not worthy of self determination? What makes the Chinese Communist Party the arbitrator of other people’s destinies? [1]http://www.arirang.com/News/News_View. asp?nseq=202377 http://www.arirang.com/News/News_View. asp?nseq=202284 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia- china-38285354 Mysterious Murder in Malaysia The older Brother of North Korean Communist Party leader Kim Jong- Nam was found to have succumbed to an alleged poison attack by N. Korean operatives whilst preparing to board a flight in the airport. Malaysian Police investigations suggest that this is an order of assassination from N. Korean leader Kim Jong Un on his half brother. Kim Jong Nam the late, eldest son was the expected heir to the Communist Party. After his younger brother Kim Jong-Un out of nowhere succeed him instead. Kim jung Nam fled to Macau part of China and had been in exile since his untimely death. This doesn’t argue well for how family