China Attempts To Lure America’s Allies, South Korea and Canada, Away From American Orbit

President Xi Jinping of Communist China hosted South Korea’s president, Lee Jae-myung, this week, and next week he’ll greet Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, in a one-two punch intended to draw two of America’s closest historical allies and trading partners away from their tight relations with Washington.In meetings with Mr. Lee, the focal point was business, and trade and investment are sure to dominate talks with Mr. Carney too. Mr. Lee had a 400-member delegation in tow, including the leaders of South Korea’s biggest conglomerates, eager to build up trade with China, by far South Korea’s biggest trading partner, to ensure access to Chinese raw materials and to enlarge on South Korean investment. Hovering over the talks, however, are fears of military crises from North Korea to the North Atlantic that Mr. Xi and Mr. Lee for the most part avoided. Mr. Lee, however, was eager to obtain Mr. Xi’s assurance of doing more to persuade North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un to resume dialogue with South Korea. The Chinese promised Mr. Lee to mediate with North Korea, which relies on China for almost all its oil and much of its food. As if to show he should not be ignored, Mr. Kim ordered the test of a hypersonic missile that Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency, in English, quoted him as saying was to “put the nuclear war deterrent on a highly developed basis.”China’s pledge to assist in bringing about dialogue with Mr. Kim, who has refused to have anything to do with South Korea since the failure of his second summit with President Trump in Hanoi in 2019, appeared as an attempt to upstage Mr. Trump, who still fantasizes about seeing Mr. Kim again in April.Mr. Kim did not mention Mr. Trump, but he appeared to have the capture of Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro in mind when he cited as the rationale for his latest missile test “the recent geopolitical crisis and complicated international events.” Similarly, Mr. Lee referred indirectly to Mr. Maduro’s capture when he said he would “seek feasible alternatives together for peace on the Korean Peninsula.”Chosun Ilbo, South Korea’s biggest-selling newspaper, summarized the mood when he said America had shown “that it will not hesitate to engage in military action, not just tariff wars, if it serves its national interests. “ Venezuela, the paper said, exports 80- percent of its oil to China, accounting for 90 percent of its revenue. “If the removal of Maduro escalates U.S.-China tensions,” the paper predicted, ”it will not benefit South Korea.”Quite unexpectedly, Canada is also caught up with military issues with China due to Mr. Trump’s avowed desire to take over Greenland in the interests of security against Russian and Chinese eagerness to expand their stake in the Arctic. As a member of the North Atlantic Treaty and the country closest geographically to Greenland, Canada opposes Mr. Trump’s claims to the former Danish colony that still counts as Danish territory.Denmark, like Canada a member of the North Atlantic Treaty, remains responsible for Greenland’s defense and foreign policy, while Greenland is otherwise self-governing. Mr. Carney has shown his solidarity with Denmark in a meeting at Paris with the Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen. Mr. Carney’s press office said he had “emphasized Canada’s support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Denmark, including Greenland.”

China Attempts To Lure America’s Allies, South Korea and Canada, Away From American Orbit

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