Tag Archives: China

China rails against U.S. for human rights violations

FILE PHOTO: A U.S. flag is tweaked ahead of a news conference between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016. REUTERS/Jacquelyn Martin/Pool

BEIJING (Reuters) – China lashed out at the United States for its “terrible human rights problems” in a report on Thursday, adding to recent international criticism of Washington on issues ranging from violence inflicted on minorities to U.S. immigration policies.

The U.S. State Department’s annual report on rights in nearly 200 countries last week accused China of torture, executions without due process, repression of political rights and persecution of ethnic minorities, among other issues.

In an annual Chinese response to the U.S. report, China’s State Council, or cabinet, said the United States suffered from rampant gun violence and high levels of incarceration.

U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria had caused thousands of civilian deaths, according to the report, which was carried by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

“With the gunshots lingering in people’s ears behind the Statue of Liberty, worsening racial discrimination and the election farce dominated by money politics, the self-proclaimed human rights defender has exposed its human rights ‘myth’ with its own deeds,” the State Council said.

“The United States repeatedly trampled on human rights in other countries and wilfully slaughtered innocent victims,” it said, referring to deaths in U.S. drone strikes.

On Wednesday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, said U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments about migrants, Mexicans and Muslims were “harmful and fuel xenophobic abuses” and that his immigration policies could lead to breaches of international law.

Trump’s derogatory campaign rhetoric against Muslims and Mexican immigrants won enthusiastic backing from prominent white supremacists who embrace anti-Jewish, anti-black and anti-Muslim ideologies, though the president has disavowed their support.

Human rights have long been a source of tension between the world’s two largest economies, especially since 1989, when the United States imposed sanctions on China after a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

China rejects criticism of its rights record and has pointed to its success at lifting millions out of poverty.

But the ruling Communist Party brooks no political dissent and President Xi Jinping’s administration has seen a sweeping crackdown on rights lawyers and activists.

(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

U.S. starts deploying anti-missile system in South Korea after defiant North’s latest test

Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors arrive at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, in this handout picture provided by the United States Forces Korea

By James Pearson and Ju-min Park

SEOUL (Reuters) – The United States started to deploy the first elements of its advanced anti-missile defense system in South Korea on Tuesday after North Korea’s test of four ballistic missiles, U.S. Pacific Command said, despite angry opposition from China.

The announcement came as North Korean state media said leader Kim Jong Un had personally supervised Monday’s missile launches by an army unit that is positioned to strike U.S. bases in Japan, stepping up threats against Washington as U.S. troops conduct joint military exercises with South Korea.

“Continued provocative actions by North Korea, to include yesterday’s launch of multiple missiles, only confirm the prudence of our alliance decision last year to deploy THAAD to South Korea,” U.S. Pacific Commander Admiral Harry Harris said in a statement, referring to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system.

The move by the U.S. military is likely to deepen the brewing conflict between South Korea and China, which says the THAAD deployment destroys the regional security balance.

The four ballistic missiles fired by North Korea landed in the sea off Japan’s northwest, angering Seoul and Tokyo, days after Pyongyang promised retaliation over the military drills that it sees as preparation for war.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe discussed the launches by the nuclear-armed North during a phone call on Tuesday.

“Japan and the U.S. confirmed that the latest North Korean missile launches were clearly against U.N. resolutions and a clear provocation against the regional and international community,” Abe told reporters. “(North Korea’s) threat has entered a new phase.”

Trump also spoke to South Korea’s acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn to discuss the North’s missile launches, Hwang’s office said.

“MERCILESSLY RETALIATE”

Reclusive North Korea, which has carried out a series of nuclear and missile tests in defiance of United Nations resolutions, issued a typically robust statement on state news agency KCNA after the missile launches.

“In the hearts of artillerymen … there was burning desire to mercilessly retaliate against the warmongers going ahead with their joint war exercises,” KCNA said.

It said Kim ordered the Korean People’s Army’s Strategic Force “to keep highly alert as required by the grim situation in which an actual war may break out any time, and get fully ready to promptly move, take positions and strike so that it can open fire to annihilate the enemies”.

The missiles North Korea fired on Monday were unlikely to have been intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), South Korea said, which can reach the United States. They flew on average 1,000 km (620 miles) and reached an altitude of 260 km (160 miles).

Some landed as close as 300 km (190 miles) from Japan’s northwest coast, Japan’s defense minister said earlier.

South Korean military and intelligence officials said on Tuesday the four North Korean missiles appeared to be an upgraded version of the Scud type – Extended-Range Scud.

North Korea is mired in a separate diplomatic row with Malaysia over the killing of Kim’s estranged half-brother at Kuala Lumpur airport last month.

The two countries have expelled each other’s ambassador from their capitals and on Tuesday announced tit-for-tat bans on departures of each other’s nationals, sharply escalating tensions between two countries that, until the killing of Kim Jong Nam, had maintained rare close ties.

DIPLOMATIC STANDOFF

The United States and Japan have requested a United Nations Security Council meeting on the latest North Korean missile launches, which will likely be scheduled for Wednesday, diplomats said.

The planned installation of the U.S. anti-missile defense system has led to a diplomatic standoff between China and South Korea.

Chinese authorities have closed nearly two dozen retail stores of South Korea’s Lotte Group, which approved a land swap with the country’s military last week to allow it to install the system.

On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang repeated China’s resolute opposition to THAAD, saying the country would take the steps necessary to protect its security interests.

“The consequences of this are on the shoulders of the United States and South Korea. We again strongly urge the relevant sides to stop the deployment process and not keep going down the wrong path,” he added.

China’s state-run Global Times warned the possibility of war on the Korean peninsula was growing because of the U.S.-South Korean military drills and the North Korean missile launches.

“The Chinese public is angry that Pyongyang’s nuclear program has provided an excuse for Seoul to deploy THAAD,” the tabloid said in an editorial.

“Pyongyang blindly believes nuclear weapons are the greatest guarantee of its national security regardless that the reality is the opposite,” it said.China objects to the THAAD deployment, saying its territory is the target of the system’s far-reaching radar. South Korea and the United States have said the missile system is aimed only at curbing North Korean provocations.

The Yonhap news agency said the THAAD deployment could be completed in one or two months.

(Additional reporting by Daewoung Kim in SEOUL, Kaori Kaneko in TOKYO and Phil Stewart in WASHINGTON, Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Writing by Jack Kim; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

China’s new civil code light on individual rights reforms

China's President Xi Jinping and other delegates listen as China's Premier Li Keqiang (not pictured) delivers a government work report during the opening session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

By Christian Shepherd

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Communist leaders will this week introduce sweeping new laws that codify social responsibilities for the country’s 1.4 billion citizens while also providing some modest new protections.

The preamble of what state media is calling China’s “declaration of rights” will be announced on Wednesday and is expected to be passed by the close of the National People’s Congress (NPC) on March 15, paving the way for more detailed laws expected to be passed in 2020.

The changes are part of President Xi Jinping’s wider push to align the legal system with the country’s social and economic modernization and for some legal reformers, the code is a test of how far China will go in allowing civil liberties that might impinge upon state power.

“Civil law is the fundamental doctrine for a country’s legal system, the source of its basic essence,” Liang Ying, head of the NPC Legislative Affairs Research institute, told state media on Sunday.

“A foundational civil (law) system is an important sign of whether a country’s legal system is mature.”

Xi has made governing the nation by law a top priority of his tenure though he has drawn a line at allowing the courts to expand their power at the expense of the Communist Party’s control.

Since pledging to reform and open in 1978, China has been gradually shifting its legal system away from a socialist law towards something closer to a European-style legal system.

In 2011, China declared that “socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics” had been established, but officials themselves say China’s laws remains a work in progress.

SAMARITANS, PROPERTY RIGHTS

The preamble, which was released in draft form to the public in June last year, seeks to address some of the legal issues that have gnawed at public consciousness in recent years, such as who is responsible for China’s abandoned children and elderly, or what protections cover so-called “Good Samaritans”.

China’s incomplete legal system was heavily criticized for an incident in 2011 when multiple passersby ignored a toddler knocked to the ground in a hit-and-run.

Shocked observers said the lack of clarity on civil rights leaves helpers at risk of liability when coming to the aid of strangers.

Reformers also hope the code will resolve the issue of guardianship for “left behind” children whose parents work away from home and “empty nest” elderly folk who are similarly abandoned by their children.

One issue that lawyers say remains mostly unresolved in the draft code is that of property rights.

Most Chinese homeowners do not legally own the land on which their homes are built. Instead, they lease the rights to use the property for a limited number of years from the government, an arrangement that creates uncertainty for buyers.

“Whether farmers or city folk, businessman or scientists, an inability to guarantee your own property in the way that other nations allow will impact social stability,” said Li Shu, a lawyer at Anli Law Firm in Beijing.

But Philip Cheng, a lawyer at Hogan Lovells in Shanghai, said a provision in the current draft requiring civil activities to be carried out in a “fair” and “reasonable” manner could help with certain property disputes.

It may, for example, allow companies and individuals to be paid market rates for land that is rezoned to produce new housing in major cities or make way for industrial development, he said.

LIMITS OF PROTECTION

Many legal experts say the latest draft of general rules that form the basis of the code falls short of enshrining sweeping private rights and makes little progress in key areas including property and civil liberties.

Another issue: how far the code will go in defending the rights of individuals, known as “personality rights”, a broad term Chinese legal experts use to talk about the basic rights each individual should enjoy.

Health, reputation, image, name and freedom are included, but the term is significantly narrower and de-politicized compared to human rights, according to Chinese academics.

Proponents of individual rights have called for a dedicated section of the code, while others worry granting too many private rights could lead to revolution.

The current scope of personality rights in the draft rules makes them “seriously imbalanced”, according to Xu Xianming, deputy chairman of the National People’s Legal Association, an advocate for more personal freedoms being included in the code.

“First, the list of rights is incomplete; second, the number of rights is insufficient; third, the civil rights system is curtailed,” Xu wrote last year in an essay for the official magazine of China’s parliament.

As China’s constitution cannot be cited in court, rights must be passed by parliament before can they be protected, Xu argued.

China’s constitution on paper promises freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly among others. In practice, however, such provisions are not considered legally actionable and the party’s right to govern as it sees fit takes precedent.

Liang Huixing, a scholar at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, has repeatedly warned that writing personality rights into the civil code might lead to a “color revolution” in China, referring to mass political movements in former Soviet Union states in the early 2000s.

(Reporting by Christian Shepherd; Editing by Tony Munroe and Sam Holmes)

China’s 2017 defense budget rise to slow again

Soldiers of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) march during the military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in Beijing, China, September 3, 2015. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj/File Photo

By Michael Martina and Philip Wen

BEIJING (Reuters) – Defying pressure for a strong increase in defense spending, China said on Saturday its military budget this year would grow about 7 percent, its slowest pace since 2010.

Last year, with China’s economy slowing, the defense budget recorded its lowest increase in six years, 7.6 percent, the first single-digit rise since 2010, following a nearly unbroken two-decade run of double-digit increases.

With the administration of new U.S. President Donald Trump proposing a 10 percent jump in military spending in 2017, and worries about potential disputes with the United States over the South China Sea and the status of Taiwan, some in China had been pressing for a forceful message from this year’s defense budget.

This week influential state-run tabloid the Global Times called for a rise of at least 10 percent to deal with the uncertainty brought by Trump, and a retired senior general told Hong Kong and Taiwan media that 12 percent would be needed to match the U.S. rise.

“It’s not enough,” a source with ties to senior Chinese officers told Reuters. “A lot of people in the military won’t be happy with this.”

Parliament spokeswoman Fu Ying, who announced the increase, said defense spending would account for about 1.3 percent of GDP, the same level as the past few years.

The actual number for defense spending will be released on Sunday, when China’s largely rubber-stamp parliament begins its annual session.

China’s economic growth target for 2017 is expected to be lowered to around 6.5 percent from last year’s 6.5-7 percent when Premier Li Keqiang gives his work report to parliament.

Last year normally talkative military delegates to parliament largely declined to talk to foreign media about the slowing rate of military spending, saying they had been ordered not to speak to foreign reporters.

NERVES RATTLED

China’s military build-up has rattled nerves around the region, particularly because China has taken an increasingly assertive stance in its territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas and over Taiwan, which China claims as its own.

Taiwan’s defense ministry expects China to continue to strengthen its military, spokesman Chen Chung-chi told Reuters, while a senior official at Japan’s defense ministry said the spending rise was still large and lacked transparency.

Takashi Kawakami, professor of international politics at Japan’s Takushoku University, said the small rate of increase showed China was taking a cautious approach with the new U.S. government, especially as Presidents Trump and Xi could meet soon.

“There was a view that China would increase its defense budget in line with the rise of the defense budget in the United States. But the fact China kept it at this level means it’s in a wait-and-see mode regarding the Trump administration.”

Spokeswoman Fu dismissed concerns about China’s military.

“Look at the past decade or so; there have been so many conflicts, even wars, around the world resulting in serious, large numbers of casualties and loss of property, so many refugees destitute and homeless. Which one has China caused?” she said.

There are other concerns for China’s military, including how to deal with the 300,000 troops President Xi Jinping announced in 2015 would be cut, mainly by the end of 2017.

Last month Chinese military veterans demonstrated in central Beijing for two consecutive days, demanding unpaid retirement benefits in a new wave of protests highlighting the difficulty in managing demobilized troops.

“It’s not yet certain what is going to happen to these people, and the military is clearly hoping for more money to deal with them,” one senior Beijing-based Asia diplomat said before this year’s defense budget was announced.

The defense budget figure for last year, 954.35 billion yuan ($138.4 billion), likely understates its investment, according to diplomats, though the number is closely watched around the region and in Washington for clues to China’s intentions.

A 7 percent rise for this year based on last year’s budget would bring the figure to 1.02 trillion yuan, still only a quarter or so of the U.S. defense budget.

The White House has proposed a 10 percent increase in military spending to $603 billion, even though the United States has wound down major wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and is already the world’s pre-eminent military power.

(Additional reporting by J.R. Wu in Taipei and Nobuhiro Kubo in Tokyo; Writing and additional reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Will Waterman)

U.S. carrier puts on show of ‘commitment’, not power, in South China Sea

U.S. Navy personnel prepare to launch an F18 fighter jet on the deck of USS Carl Vinson in the South China Sea. REUTERS/Erik De Castro

By Manuel Mogato

ABOARD THE USS CARL VINSON, South China Sea (Reuters) – The flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson shakes as a succession of F-18 fighter jets are catapulted into take-off, emitting a thunderous noise and leaving white mist in their wake.

Crewmen aboard the aircraft carrier scramble to prepare for the next arrival in a frenetic cycle of take-offs and landings involving dozens of aircraft, a dramatic display of American power in the hotly contested South China Sea.

The USS Carl Vinson led a carrier strike group on Friday in waters some 400 nautical miles east of China’s Hainan Island and northeast of the Paracels, the island chain occupied by Beijing since it seized control from Vietnam in the 1970s.

China claims most of the South China Sea through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

China’s growing military presence in the waters has fueled concern in the West, with the United States criticizing its militarization of maritime outposts and holding regular air and naval patrols to ensure freedom of navigation.

Tension between the United States and China over trade and territory under U.S. President Donald Trump has been stepped up of late, with fear in the region that the South China Sea, vital to global trade, could become a battleground between the two rival powers.

Some 30 fighter jets, helicopters and other aircraft took to the sky on Friday and crew in color-coded uniform raced to service them, check their instruments and fit weapons. An overpowering smell of aircraft fuel lingered in the air.

At any given time, between eight and 25 aircraft are in the air, day and night, with 15-20 on standby.

USS Carl Vinson has been on patrol since Feb. 19 in the South China Sea, amid some confusion about U.S. staying power in the region under a Trump administration with policies skewed heavily towards a domestic agenda.

Comments so far by Washington have caused alarm, most notably those by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who suggested during his Senate hearing that China be blocked from accessing the islands it has built and fortified with surface-to-air missiles.

Rear Admiral James Kilby, the strike group commander, said the patrol was not a show of power, but a demonstration of U.S. commitment to the Asia-Pacific.

“We wanted to reassure our friends and allies and our belief in the freedom of navigation and security operations that we always conducted,” he reporters flown out to the carrier on Friday.

“We have operated in the past, and we will continue to operate in the future. We continued to demonstrate that the international waters are waters where everyone can sail.”

TESTING THE WATERS

Under former President Barack Obama’s pivot to Asia, Washington sought to challenge China’s growing assertiveness through FONOPS, or Freedom of Navigation Operations, which routinely riled Beijing, particularly those close to its seven artificial islands.

Some critics say the FONOPS have been both provocative and fruitless, having failed to deter China from building up what it considers legitimate defenses.

A top Chinese official last year warned that FONOPS could “end in disaster”.

Friday’s exercise was far from the disputed areas of the waterway, rich fishing grounds which contain largely unexplored oil and gas deposits. Kilby there were “contacts” with merchant, fishing and military vessels in the past two weeks, though no “incidents”. He did not elaborate.

China has been guarded in its response to the latest U.S. mission, which started one day after Beijing finished its own aircraft carrier exercises.

It said it respected freedom of navigation and hoped the United States could “contribute positive energy towards this good situation”.

The crew aboard Carl Vinson will spend five months in Asia.

During Friday’s drills, one fighter missed its landing, or “recovery”, and was made to repeat the exercise, circling the vast ship before making a perfect landing.

Captain Douglas Verissimo, the skipper of Vinson, said the exercises included rigorous checks. Aircraft were simulating combat and bombing runs, performing over and over until flaws were ironed out.

“Every time they land, there’s someone grading them,” he said.

(Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Nick Macfie)

China hints at trade war strategy in South Korea standoff

A barbed-wire fence is set up around a golf course owned by Lotte, where the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system will be deployed, in Seongju, South Korea, March 1, 2017. Kim Joon-beom/Yonhap via REUTERS

By Adam Jourdan

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – South Korean firms are being squeezed in China, in suspected retaliation for Seoul’s deployment of a U.S. missile defense system, highlighting the tools China can deploy to hit back at the corporate interests of trade partners it disagrees with.

The chill facing Korea Inc, from cosmetics and supermarket chains to autos and tourism, points to a potential risk for American companies, amid a more confrontational stance taken by new U.S. President Donald Trump

In China, state media and grassroots political groups have led angry calls to boycott popular Korean products. Photos on social media and local news websites showed crowds vandalizing a Hyundai Motor Co <005380.KS> car, and some Chinese tourism firms moved to cancel Korean tours.

Beijing is furious over a joint plan by South Korea and the United States to set up the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile system in South Korea. Seoul and Washington say it will defend against nuclear-armed North Korean missiles. But Beijing says its far-reaching radar is targeted at China.

The furor echoes protests in 2012 against Japanese firms during a row with Tokyo over disputed islands in the East China Sea. The dispute flared on Monday when Lotte approved a land-swap deal that moved the THAAD system closer to deployment.

On Thursday, Lotte Duty Free, an affiliate of Korean conglomerate Lotte Group, said it had been the target of a suspected Chinese cyber attack.

“What’s happening to Korean companies now is a pretty good playbook for what might happen to U.S. firms over the next year,” said Andrew Gilholm, director of analysis for China and North Asia at risk consultancy Control Risks.

“Rather than the big dramatic trade war, everything goes to hell scenario under Trump, it’s probably more likely to be manifested as regulatory harassment of companies – one of the lower intensity tools for China.”

Korean stocks plunged on Friday, hitting cosmetics giant Amorepacific Corp <090430.KS>, carmaker Hyundai, and airlines Jeju Air Co Ltd <089590.KS>, Korean Air Lines Co Ltd <003490.KS> and Asiana Airlines Inc <020560.KS>.

POLITICAL PRESSURE

Some companies hinted at feeling political pressure to loosen or cut ties with South Korea. Korean media reported China had ordered tour operators in Beijing to stop selling trips to the country.

Three major Chinese tour operators Reuters spoke to, including China Youth Travel Service <600138.SS>, said they were still offering Korean tours. A customer service worker at Tuniu Corp <TOUR.O>, however, said the firm had stopped providing tours to Korea, citing the THAAD controversy. Tuniu did not respond to requests for comment.

Lotte also said searches for its products had been disrupted on major e-commerce platform JD.com Inc <JD.O>, though it did not directly say this was due to diplomatic tensions. JD.com declined to comment.

The CEO of Chinese retailer Jumei.com posted on his official microblog that his firm would no longer sell Lotte products. The firm did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

“Some retailers have removed Lotte sales channels over the last week as a result of political pressure,” said a senior China-based retail industry executive, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issues.

The Communist Party Youth League at central and local levels also fanned the flames online, calling for consumers not to buy products including cars, cosmetics and electronics.

“We say ‘no’ to Lotte!” the national-level Communist Youth League wrote in a post on its official microblog page.

‘IT’S BEING COORDINATED’

The consumer backlash followed. The number of posts mentioning Lotte’s Chinese name spiked to nearly 300,000 on Thursday from a normal level of a few thousand.

Photos posted on Chinese social media showed a large group of people surrounding a smashed up Hyundai car covered with black graffiti, prompting alarm over a repeat of issues that have hit faced Japanese carmakers. Other posts circulated online called for a blanket ban on all Korean tours.

China’s tourism administration posted a statement about South Korean “travel tips” on Friday, reminding Chinese holiday-makers “to soberly understand the risks of traveling abroad and carefully choose their travel destinations.”

The administration did not comment on any travel ban.

The normally hawkish state-run tabloid Global Times even struck a note of caution on Friday, warning vandalism of Korean products “won’t win the support of mainstream public opinion”.

However, Gilholm added the wide spectrum of measures taken against South Korea was unusually aggressive and authorities – though staying officially on the sidelines – played a role.

“For it to happen nationwide in such a short space of time it’s clearly been coordinated. You don’t see that being announced or admitted, but it’s being coordinated,” he said.

The Global Times warned last November the United States could face such a coordinated campaign. If Donald Trump triggered a trade war with China, Beijing would then target firms from Boeing <BA.N> to Apple <APPL.O> in a “tit-for-tat” approach.

“If Trump wrecks Sino-U.S. trade, a number of U.S. industries will be impaired,” it said in an editorial.

(Additional reporting by Cate Cadell and Xu Muyu in BEIJING, SHANGHAI newsroom. Editing by Bill Tarrant.)

China warns against cyber ‘battlefield’ in internet strategy

A map of China is seen through a magnifying glass on a computer screen showing binary digits in Singapore in this January 2, 2014 photo illustration. REUTERS/Edgar Su

BEIJING (Reuters) – The strengthening of cyber capabilities is an important part of China’s military modernization, the government said on Wednesday, warning that the internet should not become “a new battlefield”.

China, home to the largest number of internet users, has long called for greater cooperation among countries in developing and governing the internet, while reiterating the need to respect “cyber sovereignty”.

But Beijing, which operates the world’s most sophisticated online censorship mechanism known elsewhere as the “Great Firewall”, has also signaled that it wants to rectify “imbalances” in the way standards across cyberspace are set.

“The building of national defense cyberspace capabilities is an important part of China’s military modernization,” the Foreign Ministry and the Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s internet regulator, said in a strategy paper on the ministry’s website.

China will help the military in its important role of “safeguarding national cyberspace sovereignty, security and development interests” and “hasten the building of cyberspace capabilities”, they said, but also called on countries to “guard against cyberspace becoming a new battlefield”.

Countries should not engage in internet activities that harm nations’ security, interfere in their internal affairs, and “should not engage in cyber hegemony”.

“Enhancing deterrence, pursing absolute security and engaging in a (cyber) arms race – this is a road to nowhere,” Long Zhao, the Foreign Ministry’s coordinator of cyberspace affairs, said at a briefing on the strategy.

“China is deeply worried by the increase of cyber attacks around the world,” Long said.

The United States has accused China’s government and military of cyber attacks on U.S. government computer systems. China denies the accusations and says it is a victim of hacking.

A cyber attack from China crashed the website of South Korea’s Lotte Duty Free on Thursday, a company official said, at a time when South Korean firms are reporting difficulties in China following the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in South Korea that China objects to.

While China’s influence in global technology has grown, its ruling Communist Party led by President Xi Jinping has presided over broader and more vigorous efforts to control and censor the flow of information online.

The “Great Firewall” blocks many social media services, such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and Google, along with sites run by human rights groups and those of some foreign media agencies.

Chinese officials say the country’s internet is thriving and controls are needed for security and stability.

(Reporting by Michael Martina and Catherine Cadell; Editing by Nick Macfie)

China calls for cooperation to fight IS Uighur militants after video

Paramilitary policemen stand in formation as they take part in an anti-terrorism oath-taking rally, in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region,

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it wanted to work with the international community to fight Uighur militants, following the purported release by Islamic State of a video showing Uighur fighters in training.

China is worried that Uighurs, a mostly Muslim people from western China’s Xinjiang region, have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight for militant groups there, having traveled illegally via Southeast Asia and Turkey.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the killing of a Chinese hostage in 2015, underscoring China’s concern about Uighurs it says are fighting in the Middle East.

Hundreds of people have been killed in Xinjiang in the past few years, most in unrest between Uighurs and the ethnic majority Han Chinese. The government blames the unrest on Islamist militants.

The Iraqi unit of Islamic State has released a half-hour long video purportedly showing Uighurs training, as well as some images from inside Xinjiang, including Chinese police on the streets.

One shot shows Chinese President Xi Jinping that gives way to flames in front of a Chinese flag.

The video was released this week by the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group which monitors militant groups online.Reuters was not able to independently verify the authenticity of the video.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said he was not aware of the video and had not seen it.

“But one point is very clear. We oppose any form of terrorism and proactively participate in international cooperation to crack down on terrorism,” he told a daily news briefing.

“We have long said that East Turkestan forces are a serious threat to China’s security and we are willing to work with the international community to jointly crack down on East Turkestan separatist and terrorist forces,” Geng said.

The government says foreign militants have stirred up tensions in Xinjiang, where it says it faces a determined campaign by separatists who want to establish an independent state called East Turkestan.

But many rights groups and exiles doubt the existence of a coherent militant group in Xinjiang, and say Uighur anger at repressive Chinese policies is more to blame for the unrest.

China denies any repression in Xinjiang.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)

South Korea, U.S. begin large-scale annual drills amid North Korea tension

South Korean policemen and soldiers stand guard at a golf course owned by Lotte, where the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system will be deployed, in Seongju, South Korea, March 1, 2017. Kim Joon-beom/Yonhap via REUTERS

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean and U.S. troops began large-scale joint military exercise on Wednesday conducted annually to test their defense readiness against the threat from North Korea, which routinely characterizes the drills as preparation for war against it.

The exercise, called Foal Eagle, comes amid heightened tension following the latest test launch of a ballistic missile by the North on Feb. 12 and in the past prompted threats by Pyongyang to launch military action in retaliation.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry and the U.S. military based in the South confirmed the start of the drills on Wednesday that will continue until the end of April but did not immediately provide further details.

The exercise last year involved about 17,000 American troops and more than 300,000 South Koreans.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis spoke with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-Koo early on Wednesday by telephone and said the United States remains steadfast in its commitment to the defense of its ally.

Mattis welcomed a deal signed by South Korea with the Lotte Group conglomerate this week to secure the land to station the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system in the South, the two countries said.

South Korea has said it and the United States aim to make the system, which the two countries decided last year to deploy in response to the North Korean missile threat, operational by the end of the year.

Han said in the phone call with Mattis that this year’s joint drills will be conducted at a similar scale as last year’s, which the South’s Defense Ministry had called the “largest-ever” exercises by the allies.

North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said earlier on Wednesday its leader Kim Jong Un inspected the headquarters of a major military unit and issued guidance on increasing combat readiness.

(Reporting by Jack Kim and Ju-min Park in Seoul and Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Michael Perry)

China reacts with anger, threats after South Korean missile defense decision

FILE PHOTO: A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is launched during a successful intercept test, in this undated handout photo provided by the U.S. Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency. U.S. Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency/Handout via Reuters/File Photo

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese state media have reacted with anger and boycott threats after the board of an affiliate of South Korea’s Lotte Group approved a land swap with the government that allows authorities to deploy a U.S. missile defense system.

The government decided last year to deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, in response to the North Korean missile threat, on land that is part of a golf course owned by Lotte in the Seongju region, southeast of Seoul.

The board of unlisted Lotte International Co Ltd approved the deal with the government on Monday.

China objects to the deployment in South Korea of the THAAD, which has a powerful radar capable of penetrating Chinese territory, with Beijing saying it is a threat to its security and will do nothing to ease tension with North Korea.

Lotte should be shown the door in China, the influential state-run Chinese tabloid the Global Times said in an editorial on Tuesday.

“We also propose that Chinese society should coordinate voluntarily in expanding restrictions on South Korean cultural goods and entertainment exports to China, and block them when necessary,” it said in its English-language edition.

The paper’s Chinese version said South Korean cars and cellphones should be targeted as well.

“There are loads of substitutes for South Korean cars and cellphones,” it said.

China has already twice issued “solemn representations” to South Korea about the most recent THAAD-related developments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily briefing in Beijing.

But it welcomes foreign companies to operate in China, he said. “Whether or not a foreign company can operate successfully in China, in the end is a decision for the Chinese market and consumer,” he added.

Late on Monday, the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily said cutting diplomatic ties should be considered.

“If THAAD is really deployed in South Korea, then China-South Korea relations will face the possibility of getting ready to cut off diplomatic relations,” it said on the WeChat account of its overseas edition.

The official Xinhua news agency also said in a commentary late on Monday that China “did not welcome this kind of Lotte”.

“Chinese consumers can absolutely say no to this kind of company and their goods based on considerations of ‘national security’,” it said.

South Korea’s defence ministry said on Tuesday it had signed a land swap deal, with Lotte exchanging the golf course for military property. A South Korean military official told Reuters the military would begin area patrols and install fences.

The Lotte Group said on Feb. 8 Chinese authorities had stopped construction at a multi-billion dollar real estate project in China after a fire inspection, fuelling concern in South Korea about damage to commercial ties with the world’s second-largest economy.

Asked if South Korea had demanded the Chinese government suspend any economic retaliation, South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-kyun said: “We have continuously persuaded China so far and will keep continuing efforts to do so.”

South Korean government officials have said THAAD is a defensive measure against North Korean threats and does not target any other country.

South Korea’s central bank said this month the number of Chinese tourists visiting the tourist island of Jeju had fallen 6.7 percent over the Lunar New Year holiday from last year, partly because of China’s “anti-South Korea measures due to the THAAD deployment decision”.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Ju-min Park in SEOUL; Editing by Paul Tait and Clarence Fernandez)