At last, Beijing might get serious about North Korea - Paul French

Paul French

China has been trying to ignore its unruly neighbor North Korea for as long as it was possible. And North Korea was more interested in talking to the US, and less to China. But Beijing might at last be changing its tune, says Paul French, author of North Korea: State of Paranoia (Asian Arguments) to the Washington Post.

Paul French:

Beijing’s current thinking may be that responding to North Korea’s recent bouts of belligerency with a coal ban punishes Pyongyang more directly (i.e., right in the wallet) than the Chinese have previously been willing to do while also letting Washington know it is not afraid to get a lot tougher with an old, but frustrating, ally. Though it’s worth considering that Beijing, with its horrendous pollution problems, is itself looking to diversify away from coal-fired power, so maybe there is no great sacrifice on the Chinese part here. 

Beijing’s recent policy of studiously ignoring Kim hasn’t worked. Chinese President Xi Jinping has visited locations as far flung as Fiji, Belarus and Zimbabwe but has never taken the one-hour shuttle from Beijing to Pyongyang. The coal ban then is the start of what may be a series of harsher measures that could include finally getting tough on North Korean bank accounts in China, putting limits on Chinese firms doing business in the country, restrictions on North Korean officials transiting through China, and a demand that Pyongyang rejoin the Six Party Talks or risk losing essential aid supplies. 

Trump, like President Obama before him, may be right that the way to contain North Korea is through Chinese pressure. But perhaps it is the events that Trump’s ascendancy appear to have unleashed from Pyongyang that will finally force Beijing to get seriously tough with their neighbor.

More in the Washington Post.

Paul French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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Coal capital now hit by anti-graft drive - Ian Johnson

Ian Johnson

Coal used to be literally gold in China, but those days are over. Formal coal capital Lüliang has now been the center of president Xi Jinping´s anti-corruption drive, writes journalist Ian Johnson in the New York Times. A case study on disrupting the Party establishment.

Ian Johnson:

Now, Lüliang is at the center of one of the most sweeping political and economic purges in recent Chinese history. As President Xi Jinping’s campaign against corruption enters its second year, the Communist Party authorities have made an example of this district of 3.7 million, taking down much of its political and business elite in a flurry of headline-grabbing arrests.

Seven of the 13 party bosses who run Shanxi Province, where Lüliang is located, have been stripped of power or thrown in jail, and party propaganda outlets have trumpeted the crackdown in the region as proof that Mr. Xi is serious about rooting out corruption.

On Friday, state news media reported a new wave of arrests, with nine more Lüliang officials detained. The reports say the arrests are part of a new emphasis on cleaning up local governments, where officials have extensive powers and few restraints.

Among those who have been held up for national humiliation here are Xing Libin, a coal baron who reportedly spent $11 million on his daughter’s wedding, and Zhang Zhongsheng, a local apparatchik accused of using illegal gains to build hilltop mansions. Interviews in Lüliang and in state news reports put the two men at the center of an incestuous network of entrepreneurs and party officials who bought and sold government posts to maintain control of the area’s lucrative coal mines and to finance lavish lifestyles.

More in the New York Times.

Ian Johnson is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´ request form.

Managing risks remains a key talent to survive in China. Are you looking for risk management experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Check out this latest list.  

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Power outages start to hurt production - Bill Dodson

Bill Dodson

The current shortfall in electricity in China is already starting to hurt production, writes Bill Dodson in his weblog. As the summer nears, problems will increase. An its basically a government policy cause the problem.

Bill Dodson:

Much of the shortfall has to do with the government-controlled price at which steam coal is sold to power stations; the price is lower than market prices, so coal producers are simply choosing not to sell their coal to the electricity generators. The government, for its part, is loathe to lift the ceiling on coal prices, as inflationary pressures are already aggravating a populace edgy for the good life – which, of course, requires increasing amounts of electricity.

However, judging by my electricity bills this past summer, I’m also loathe to see my electricity bills increase any further.

More on his weblog.

Bill Dodson is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

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