On February 23, 2017, Colonel Ren Guoqiang – the representative of the Ministry of Defense of China stated at a regular press conference, that China strongly opposes the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system in South Korea, as it causes serious damage to the strategic aspects of safety and interests of the neighboring countries, including China and Russia, and violates the strategic balance in the region.
Colonel Ren Guoqiang expressed the hope that South Korea will cherish the achievements of the development of relations between the Armed Forces of the two countries: China hopes that South Korea will build on the ideas of peace and stability in the region, and also take into account the fundamental interests of the two peoples, the precautionary approach to the issues that affect the strategic security and interests of China.
“Such an approach will create positive conditions for the smooth development of relations,” but in parallel to these declarations Beijing continues to carry out a hardline policy against South Korea, aimed at trying to force Seoul to cancel the decision to deploy THAAD. Calculations by South Korea show that, in 2016, China took measures that have become an indirect expression of protest against the decision of Seoul regarding the THAAD on 43 occasions altogether. According to the Ministry of Unification data, published on February 3, 2017, this number of responses were received since July 8 of the last year, when an official decision was made on the THAAD. In the social and cultural spheres, 23 cases of pressure from China were reported, 15 – in economics, and 5 cases in the sphere of foreign policy and security.
Here are some specifics. On January 3, 2017, the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) State Administration of Quality Control, Inspection and Quarantine issued a list of cosmetic products banned from being imported into China. It lists the names of 28 cosmetic products of which 19 are produced in South Korea. The reasons for the ban on the importation of products cited the absence of certificates or a discrepancy between the description and the actual composition of the product, although they had previously successfully passed customs clearance, and there had been no problems with regard to their quality.
The ban, however, did not come as a surprise, since, in terms of popularity, South Korean cosmetic products in China are in the second place, after TV serials, and when the Chinese government introduced tough restrictions on South Korean popular culture, it has become clear who is next. On January 7, the “Huanqiu’s Daily” newspaper published an article titled “South Korea Draws Troubles upon Itself because of Missile Defense System – THAAD”, where it was openly stated that China will not sacrifice its national interests for cosmetics (previously, South Korean cosmetic companies had a 67% share of the Chinese market).
Earlier, plumbing took a blow. On December 20, 2016, the PRC authorities published a similar list of imported automatic toilet-bidets, and again out of 47 models – 43 models produced by South Korean firms were prohibited. Add to this China’s tightening of import control measures and non-tariff barriers and exclusion of Chinese producers of EVs using Korean batteries from the list of subsidized companies.
Cooperation in the field of classical music has also been subjected to suffering. So, the well-known pianist Kun-Woo Paik was denied a visa. Various other singers and musicians have also begun to experience delay in the issuance of visas.
In addition to pressure in trade there has also been a show of force. On January 9, approximately ten Chinese military aircrafts flew through the South Korean Air Defense Identification Zone to the south of the island of Jeju and to the west of the island of Iodo. According to the South Korean military, AWACS aircraft – bombers and reconnaissance aircrafts, invaded the country’s airspace, coming either from one of the air bases on the territory of China or from Liaoning aircraft carrier, which is involved in exercises in the Yellow, East China and South China Seas. At the same time, eight aircrafts flew over the Korean Strait and reached the Japanese Air Defense Identification Zone.
Although this is NOT the country’s airspace, or an exclusive economic zone, South Korea requires that all aircrafts crossing this zone, receive advance permission from the South Korean party, but the Chinese aircrafts had not made any requests. The South Korean Military informed their Chinese colleagues about the fact of violation of air borders, and then raised 10 F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets into the air, taking measures to oust the intruders. In response, the Chinese party said that it was conducting military exercises – in the same style of South Korean responses to North Korea’s declaration of maneuvers in dangerous areas.
In February and August, 2016, three Chinese military aircrafts had flown over the zone of the South Korean Air Defense Identification Zone, but this time it was not a single flight – a group of several planes flew within the restricted area for a few hours. In addition, this time China raised the long-range H-6 bomber in the air, which is capable of carrying ten supersonic anti-ship missiles and can fly from China to the island of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.
Separately, we note a move that suggested itself for a long time. At the end of December 2016, Chinese authorities expelled 30 South Korean Protestant missionaries, who were engaged in religious activities in the areas of China bordering to North Korea. More specifically, about 30 were expelled only from the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Region, and expelled in 24 hours, so that some priests were forced to leave, unable to solve issues with their rented or purchased properties.
As one of the Chinese political scientists said about these priests from South Korea, the authorities have long had grievances: pastors are engaged not so much in preaching as in the transportation of North Korean defectors from North Korea and attempts to create a Christian underground in North Korea, at the same time collecting intelligence information. It is no coincidence that the concentration of South Korean priests is unusually large in those districts of China with close proximity to the North Korean border.
Finally, Chinese visa centers sharply restricted the issuance of entry visas for citizens of South Korea, although no new requirements have been introduced: “fill out the form correctly and provide a photo of the correct size and format.” Many rumors abound regarding the decision to ban tourism in South Korea, however, according to the Financial Times, since last July when Seoul and Washington officially announced the deployment of THAAD missile defense system on the Korean Peninsula, 3.8 million Chinese tourists visited South Korea. This is 27% more than in the same period of the previous year, and almost 40% more than in the same period of 2014. The increase occurred despite the fact that the Chinese state-owned mass media, warned of a reduction in the number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea due to rising anti-Korean sentiment.
This, however, does not mean a complete break in joint initiatives. During a closed session in Busan on December 20-21, the second meeting of representatives of South Korea and China was held on the issue of determining the exact boundaries of their exclusive economic zones (EEZ) in the Yellow Sea. The problem is that in some areas the exclusive economic zones of South Korea and PRC overlap. The South Korean party insists on defining the boundaries of the exclusive economic zones along the line equidistant from the coastlines of the two countries. In Beijing, however, it is believed that the border location should take into account the length of the coastline and the density of the local population.
Curiously, a mere fact that Chinese investors continue to buy up land in South Korea is perceived as economic pressure. According to the data published by the Kunming Institute of Financial Management Bank on February 21, 2017, a number of foreigners residing in South Korea reached over 2 million people (3.9% of the total population) in 2016, whereby 50% of them are Chinese, including those of Korean origin. Last year, Chinese investors bought 2 million 620 thousand square meters of land, and if in 2011 the territory in the possession of Chinese citizens totaled 3.7 million square meters, in the past year it has reached 16.9 million. However, this can be explained by the fact that property prices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Vancouver, where Chinese people live in large numbers, have risen sharply.
Naturally, Seoul has retaliated. Thus, the government of South Korea has begun to address the issue of whether the economic pressure from China violates WTO rules. A representative of South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, alleged this on February 7, but in order to lodge a complaint with the WTO, proof must be submitted that certain measures have been adopted by Beijing deliberately. And then there are many controversial issues, and a lack of specific evidences to say with certainty whether there has been a violation of the WTO charter.
Then, apparently in response to the expulsion of the priests, South Korea refused to grant work visas to nine teachers of the Confucius Institute (Beijing’s National Project, which aims to acquaint the world with Chinese culture and especially with the Chinese language). The Ministry of Justice stated that the decision was made in accordance with immigration legislation. And then on February 19, 2017, the Consulate General of China in Jeju, made a presentation to South Korea on the issue of preventing Chinese citizens from entering the territory of South Korea.
Separately, it is worth noting the increased level of violence against maritime police and Chinese poachers engaged in illegal fishing in South Korean waters and South Korea’s exclusive economic zone. Thus, on February 16, 2017, the coast guards tried to conduct an examination of about thirty ships, which were hung with steel spears and metal sheets on the sides to prevent climbing aboard. Once, one vessel was successfully detained, then another 40 ships joined the group of Chinese fishermen. After several verbal warnings, the maritime police used the on-board machine gun, after which the intruders fled. Similar incidents, which led to machine-gun fire, took place on November 1 and December 11, 2016.
Recall, the behavior of Chinese fishermen poaching in South Korean territorial waters has become more aggressive, and since October 11, 2016, after the incident, when the Chinese poachers crushed the boat with a group of coast guard officers with their vessels, the South Korean authorities have introduced new rules, which greatly simplify the use of firearms arms including – shoot to kill.
This is clearly not the end of the period of tension in relations between the two countries, especially given the fact that the authorities of the South Korea are not going to give in on the THAAD issue, and therefore it is possible that new levers of exerting influence on Seoul may appear among Beijing’s arsenal.
Konstantin Asmolov, PhD in History, Leading Research Fellow at the Center for Korean Studies of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”
