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China erects fence

Cal

Well-known member
China erects barbed wire fence along border with North Korea
(http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/98297,CST-NWS-korea16.article)

October 16, 2006

BY FOSTER KLUG
HUSHAN, China -- China has been building a massive barbed wire and concrete fence along parts of its border with North Korea in the most visible sign of Beijing's strained ties with its once-cozy communist neighbor.

Scores of soldiers have descended on farmland near the border-marking Yalu River to erect concrete barriers 8 to 15 feet tall and string barbed wire between them, farmers and visitors to the area said.

Last week, they reached Hushan, a collection of villages 12 miles inland from the border port of Dandong.

''About 100 People's Liberation Army soldiers in camouflage started building the fence four days ago and finished it yesterday,'' said a farmer, who only gave his surname, Ai. ''I assume it was built to prevent smuggling and illegal crossing.''

Though the fence-building appears to have picked up in the days following North Korea's claimed nuclear test last week, experts said the project was approved in 2003. Experts and a local Hushan official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the project, said the military was in charge of the building.

A Defense Ministry spokesman, Ye Xing, declined comment, saying he was not authorized to release information on border security.

The fence marks a noticeable change in China's approach to North Korea. In the decades following their shared fight against U.S.-led U.N. forces in the Korean War, China left their border lightly guarded, deploying most of its forces in the northeast toward its enemy, the Soviet Union.

But the border became a security concern for Beijing in the past decade, as North Korea's economy collapsed and social order crumbled in some places. Tens of thousands of refugees began trickling across the border into northeast China, fording the Yalu and Tumen rivers or walking across the ice in winter.

Professor Kim Woo-jun, of the Institute of East and West Studies in Seoul, said China built wire fences on major defection routes along the Tumen River in a project that began in 2003, and since September this year, China has been building wire fences along the Yalu River.

''The move is mainly aimed at North Korean defectors,'' Kim said. ''As the U.N. sanctions are enforced ... the number of defectors are likely to increase as the regime can't take care of its people. ... I think the wire fence work will likely go on to control this.''

But he said he also believes that Beijing wants to firmly mark its border with the North along the two rivers.

Kim said China and the North drew their border in a secret treaty. That treaty wasn't reported to the United Nations and therefore does not apply to a third country, such as South Korea. China is concerned that South Korea may claim a different border after absorbing or unifying with the North.

Reporters who visited the border area in the past week saw about 1,600 feet of newly erected barbed wire fence north of Dandong, mainly along river banks and occasionally broken up by mountain areas or military guard posts.

A duck farmer in Hushan, who would only give his surname Han, said that soldiers began putting up the fence near his farm on Oct. 9 -- the same day that North Korea claims to have carried out an underground nuclear test.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
I read an article the other day that said one of the main reasons that both China and South Korea wanted to allow some trade (food, fuel, medicine, necessities) with North Korea is that they fear the floods of defectors and refugees that will occur if things get any worse in the North....
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
China rounds up and sends back more North Koreans than we do Mexicans.. Iremember seing a special on it once.. It was interesting.. They have a big illegal immigration problem with them leaving loooking for food.
 

RoperAB

Well-known member
You guys are missing the big picture. WW2 wasnt that long ago. You see North Korea is causeing or possible starting Japan to militerise. The last thing that China wants is a nuclear, militerised Japan.
There are millions in China who remember how the Japs masacured them in WW2. Commited war crimes worse than you can imagine. Civillians raped, tortured and murdered. Executed one by one and also in large scales. The Japs would even go into hospitals and bayonet the civillian patients one after another. I dont think you guys realise how bad the Japanise were in WW2 and what china was like under Jap occupation.
If we were smart we would be doing everything we could to get Japan to militerise and threaten china.
This would cause China to look at North Korea as the source of there troubles not only because of Japan but also because im thinking China is starting to realise how little control they have over North Korea. Right now China is the major power player in the area. North Korea threatens this. Not only because of the arms race with Japan but also because now they have a nuclear nut<North Korea> on their border.
Yes I know China wants us to lose in Iraq and Afghanistan. But with North Korea im thinking we might have them on side. Dont forget that China worked with the Soviets in Vietnam even though they hated the soviets.
Maybe if this is handled right we can get China to blow old hell out of North Korea? This would solve all the troubles.
 

RoperAB

Well-known member
Econ101 said:
We are not going to do that to Mexico and there is about as much chance of china blowing n. korea as that.

It is nothing like the US/Mexico situation. Your still missing the point. This isnt about imigration. Its about North Korea costing China trillions of dollars. Its about North Korea costing China its position as the number one power in the region.
No I dont see China suddenly invading North Korea anytime today or tommorow. But maybe they would if we encouraged them?
I bet t6hey would do it if major allied countries gave them the okay to do it. The problem is do we want China to invade North Korea? If they invade they wont give it back.
However wouldnt this be better than the regime that controls North Korea right now? Atleast china would stay above the 38th and leave south korea alone. I dont think China would threaten south korea.
Maybe <the world> should give North Korea to China?
Here is a question for you. What would we do if North Korea invaded south Korea tommorow? You see this is the worst case thing that really could happen. What forces there are right now in south Korea could be over run pretty easy by the North Koreans. Who are we going to send?
 

Econ101

Well-known member
The U.S. has reportedly 30,000 troops in s. korea. China uses n. korea as a buffer to south korea as much as anything else. The capital of s. korea is 30 miles, or within shot of n. korea and that has been the worry since the korean war. We would step in if anything happened to s. korea and our troops, Japan, or any other real ally in the region with the exeption of tiawan possibly if china were involved.

We can't "give" n. korea to china, just allow it to become a real nuisance to china as it is. It has the possibility, as you say, roper, of militarizing with nuclear weapons, the whole east.

China is the key to any deal. n. korea gets support like an old soviet sattelite country. The U.S. is just the heavy in this one.

This is one of those touch and go situations needing a firm and steady hand.
 

RoperAB

Well-known member
I doubht if the US has 30,000 soldiers in South Korea right now. The last figgures I read were 14000. Anyway 30,000 isnt enough. North Korea has over 1 million active soldiers, with another 5 million soldiers in reserve. These figures include over 88 thousand highly trained Special Forces<think SEALS, DELTA FORCE>.
They have artillery,tanks, rockets and missiles capible of delivering chemical, biological and now apparently nukes or if they cant deliver the nukes yet its only a matter of time before they can.
Their Navy has 430 patrol boats and 90 submarines.
Their Air Force has over 790 Russian fighters<300 helicopters>.
Most of the N, Korean military is located in underground bunkers along the DMZ. What that means is if the N,Koreans mobilized it would be a surprise attack or at best we would get up to three days warning which is of little use.
Before Iraq and Afghanistan the American strategy for defending S Korea up to 1998 has always been a huge counteroffensive after the North invades the south, think pre 1998 ,OPLAN5027>. Just like we did in 1950. Any attack from the North will be a blitzkrieg strategy with a successful surprise attack in the early phase of the war to occupy some or all of South Korea before the arrival of US reinforcements on the Korean Peninsula.
My question is with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan where are all these reinforcements going to come from?
There are all kinds of variations to OPLAN5027. Prior to 1998 all of these plans that I have read depends on two conditions. First, the ROK forces must withstand DPRK forces during the initial 5-15 days of North Koean offensive actions. Second, they must hold the line while US and ROK forces are mobilized for the counteroffensive, which im thinking would have to happen pretty darn quick! How is to be accomplished with our military basically tied up right now in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Now since 1998 all variations of OPLAN5027 envolves us doing a pre emptive,surprise attack/invasion of North Korea. Again right now where are we going to get the troops and the equipement to pull this off? Plus these plans all envolve counting on the missle defence system of North America which has never been set up yet or actually proven. Dont forget if we invade North Korea in a pre-emptive strike we might find ourselves in WW3. Missile defence tests by contractors under controled conditions only show a 50% success rate for MD.

Now about us not being able to give North Korea to China. You realize that most of the world as we know it today and the lives and fate of millions was casually decided by Churchill and Stalin over a few drinks in 1945.
 
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