North Korea has been relatively quiet since President Trump last met with Kim Jong Un at the DMZ in June 2019. It has carried out no major weapons tests, and focused largely on dealing with COVID, droughts and keeping its ailing economy afloat.

But now, eight months into the Biden administration, it is reverting to old ways, and it appears North Korea leader Kim Jong Un is upgrading his weapons arsenal, showcasing new technologies and testing President Biden — once again posing a serious threat to regional and global security.

New satellite images have now shown that North Korea is also ramping up its nuclear weapons program at the Yongbyon nuclear research center, expanding a uranium-enrichment plant, which could advance the country’s ability to produce weapons-grade material. Based on the size of the new plant, analysts say it could potentially allow them to add 1,000 new centrifuges.

NORTH KOREA FIRES 2 BALLISTIC MISSILES; JAPAN’S SUGA RIPS TEST AS ‘ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS’

https://www.foxnews.com/world/north-korea-ballistic-missiles-east-sea-weekend-tests

The news comes two weeks after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that North Korea had also restarted its nuclear reactor, based on the discharge of cooling water, which had not been observed since 2018. It called the findings “deeply troubling” and a “cause for serious concern”. There were also signs of activity at the nearby radiochemical laboratory, where fuel rods are reprocessed into plutonium.

All suggesting, quite clearly, that North Korea has restarted its nuclear weapons development program.

The apparent violations come just days after North Korea launched two ballistic missiles from a railway-borne system in violation of U.N. resolutions. On Wednesday the missiles flew about 800 miles towards japan and were the first of their kind in the hermit nation. North Korean state tv said the new delivery system would be used as a counter strike option.

The U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific Command said the launches do not pose an immediate threat to “US personnel or territory, or to our allies”, but Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has called the launch “outrageous” saying it threatened peace and security in the region.

NORTH KOREA SAYS ‘STRATEGIC’ LONGE-RANGE CRUISE MISSILES HIT TARGETS IN TEST

https://www.foxnews.com/world/north-korea-long-range-cruise-missiles-test

On Sept. 11, as the U.S. was commemorating the 20 years since the 9/11 attacks, North Korea also test fired a cruise missile, that experts said could have a nuclear capability – should they be able to miniaturize a warhead. The cruise missile, also capable of reaching Japan – showcasing the ability to perform figure eights in the sky.

After the tests, Ned Price, the State Department spokesman, urged a diplomatic solution, saying the Biden administration was “committed to dialogue with North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong-un, with the aim of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.” However Kim Jong Un has reportedly rebuffed any outreach so far.

North Korea remains desperate for sanction relief, but not, it appears at the cost of its nuclear program. As the stalemate between the U.S. and North Korea persists, some experts are wondering whether the Biden administration is returning to the Obama-era policy of strategic patience.

China has also continued to help North Koreans as best it can, most lately by holding up a U.N. investigation into North Korean sanctions busting, while being continually accused of helping the North Koreans bypass sanctions themselves, and turning a blind eye to ship to ship transfers off the North Korean coast.

A newly provocative North Korea is the last thing that President Biden needs. After eight months in office, Biden is increasingly involved with multiple foreign policy issues and on numerous fronts. The aftermath of the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, stalled attempts to restart the Iran nuclear deal, and the rise of China as an assertive competitor. With North Korea again flexing its muscles, President Biden will have one more thorn in his side.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/world/north-korea-nuclear-weapons-program-again-satellite-images

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Neither Biden nor the White House elaborated on what precisely that collaboration will entail, even as American companies grapple with a global shortage of chips used to make cars, computers, and other high-tech devices. Biden met with corporate CEOs earlier in the week to discuss the issue, focusing on long-term solutions like building new semiconductor factories in the U.S. that would take years to come online.

The Japan agreement seems to take a long-term view as well: The countries will invest billions of dollars to develop and deploy advanced technologies, including 5G telecommunications networks, biotechnology, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence — all emerging fields where they are competing with China for global dominance. The United States has committed $2.5 billion to the effort while Japan has committed $2 billion, the White House said.

The pair will also work with allies in the Indo-Pacific region to create surge capacity for manufacturing personal protective equipment and other medical supplies for future pandemics. The administration aims to avoid future shortages of safety and sanitation products that many hospitals, senior care facilities, and other organizations experienced last year.

CHINA HAWKS QUESTION BIANCHI NOMINATION: Republican China hawks pounced on Biden’s nomination of former aide Susan Bianchi as deputy USTR on Friday, questioning whether she has the experience to execute the agency’s China portfolio, which she’s widely expected to inherit.

“The China portfolio at USTR is a critical position that should be reserved for someone with experience in these issues, and who has demonstrated a commitment to a clear-eyed approach when confronting the CCP’s threats to our national and economic security,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told POLITICO on Friday.

“Katherine Tai was a historic selection for U.S. trade representative, who was confirmed with 98 votes and deserves a team that can carry out her expertise and views on China,” he said.

Reality check: Though the GOP China hawks have delayed a few previous nominees and raised Cain about how they supposedly show Biden will be soft on Beijing, their attacks have yet to stick. Beyond legislative maneuvers to delay her confirmation, they are unlikely to build enough opposition to derail Bianchi’s nomination.

As criticism for Bianchi’s nomination rolled in, so did endorsements. Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Bianchi will bring “broad experience to bear on our significant trade policy challenges — including ensuring proper enforcement of our existing trade deals, making way for the trade of the future, and most importantly, ensuring both our past and future trade policy works for American workers and their families.”

And about the other deputy nominee: Wyden unsurprisingly had kind words for his long-time adviser, Jayme White, who the White House has also nominated to a deputy post in USTR. He said White’s work in Congress to modernize trade policy was “critical to securing new tools to enforce deals, cracking down on trade cheating by updating U.S. laws and putting new transparency into trade negotiations.”

An industry perspective: The National Foreign Trade Council’s outgoing president, Rufus Yerxa, said Bianchi’s past work for Biden and White’s career on the Hill provide a “great training ground for the kind of combination of politics and policy that you have to manage as a deputy USTR.”

“The deputy USTR is kind of the intermediary between the political level and the substantive and technical level of work in USTR, and, of course, you also have to be a good negotiator and a good politician. I think they both are,” said Yerxa, who served in the role during the Clinton administration.

DATES TO WATCH: The House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing with Tai on the Biden administration’s 2021 trade policy agenda during the week of May 10, per a committee staffer. Senate Finance is also aiming to host Tai in May, though a date has not been set, according to an aide.

Then, later this year: The WTO’s Ministerial Conference, which convenes trade ministers from its 164 member countries, has been officially scheduled for Nov. 30 to Dec. 3 in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting was originally slated for June 2020 in Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan, but was postponed due to the pandemic. Kazakhstan’s minister of trade and integration, Bakhyt Sultanov, will chair the gathering.

MORE SENATORS PRESSURE BIDEN TO BACK VACCINE IP WAIVER: Eight Democratic senators have joined Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in urging Biden to publicly support India and South Africa’s request for the WTO to waive intellectual property protections on Covid-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics so that manufacturers around the world can increase production of those goods.

“To bring the pandemic to its quickest end and save the lives of Americans and people around the world, we ask that you prioritize people over pharmaceutical company profits by reversing the Trump position and announcing U.S. support for the WTO TRIPS waiver,” the senators said in a letter to Biden on Friday.

The U.S., the EU, and some other developed countries have opposed the waiver since India and South Africa first proposed it back in October. But last week, Tai seemed to open the door to the possibility of the U.S. changing its position during a speech at a closed-door WTO forum where she called for industry to make sacrifices to ensure people in developing countries have access to life-saving medicine.

Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) also signed the letter to Biden.

Tai talks with vaccine alliance CEO: Tai discussed the IP waiver proposal and related health issues on Friday with Seth Berkley, the CEO of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance. She highlighted “her commitment to using trade policy to save lives in the pandemic and ensure that the United States, and the world, are better prepared in the future,” USTR said.

EU trade chief explains opposition: European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, in a March 3 letter obtained by Morning Trade to a member of the European Parliament, argued granting the waiver “would not help but rather hinder the efforts to ensure the widest distribution of Covid-19 vaccines.”

“New variants of Covid remain a real threat and this is not the last pandemic that we may have to deal with,” Dombroskis said in the letter to MEP Gianna Gancia. “We need to find measures that both respond to the current needs in the EU and worldwide, as well as preserve the incentives to innovate and invest in health-related research.”

In the EU’s view, “the solutions to rapidly scale up the required manufacturing and distribution of vaccines at this stage can only be delivered through close public-private cooperation and intellectual property is a key element of this equation,” Dombrovskis added.

CHINA, U.S. BREAK TENSION WITH CLIMATE STATEMENT: U.S. and Chinese officials left their March meeting in Alaska on a chilly note, diminishing any notion that the nations’ relationship would be quickly repaired under the Biden administration. But a potential thaw came over the weekend when the economic rivals released a joint statement pledging to fight climate change “with the seriousness and urgency that it demands,” POLITICO’s Zack Colman reports.

The announcement did not include any grand policy changes, but the countries plan to lay out their long-term visions for achieving net-zero emissions at the international climate change talks scheduled for November in Glasgow, Scotland. The statement by special climate envoy John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, followed Kerry’s last-minute trip to Asia ahead of Biden’s two-day climate summit that begins on Thursday.

The trade angle: The U.S. has said it wants concessions from China on issues like climate change and human rights abuses before it will strike a deal on tariffs and other trade-related matters. So far, the Biden administration has maintained Trump-era duties on billions of dollars worth of imports from China. Beijing hopes to see those duties eased, along with restrictions imposed on several of its largest technology companies, under new U.S. leadership. Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo have said Trump’s policies are under review but have otherwise offered little insight into their next steps.

LAWMAKERS CALL FOR A NEW TOURISM STRATEGY: The leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee penned a letter to Raimondo on Friday asking for an update to the country’s tourism and travel strategy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Raimondo oversees the Tourism Policy Council, an interagency group that monitors how federal policy impacts the travel industry.

“We would like to see specific strategies and recommendations that prioritize public health and economic recovery in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the letter states. “These strategies should help agencies promote the safe resumption of domestic and international travel by identifying actions they can take to impart traveler confidence and enlarge opportunities for safe travel.”

In addition to Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the letter is signed by Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.). The tourism industry has been especially hammered during the pandemic as international travel largely halted and Americans took fewer domestic trips. That’s taken an economic toll on states with economies that rely heavily on tourism and hospitality.

Steven Overly
Steven Overly covers technology policy and politics for POLITICO with a special focus on the industry’s effort to influence decisions in Washington. He previously spent seven years as a reporter and editor at The Washington Post. Steven holds a degree in journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a master’s degree from Columbia University, where he studied as a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economics and Business Journalism. A native of the Washington metro region, Steven currently resides in the District.

Source: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/weekly-trade/2021/04/19/few-details-as-japan-us-agree-to-tackle-supply-chains-794747

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China accused the US and Japan of “ganging” up on them Saturday, following discussions by the two nations on a range of geopolitical issues, including China’s global expansion.

In the first in-person meeting at the White House since President Biden entered office, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the two leaders discussed the “severe security environment” and People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) actions in the Indo-Pacific region.

The two nation’s addressed not only China’s increased military involvement in the South China Sea and security measures the PRC is using to pressure Taiwan, but also human right abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

“The US and Japan are actually ganging up to form cliques and fanning bloc confrontation,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday. “This anachronistic move runs counter to the aspiration for peace, development, and cooperation shared by the overwhelming majority of countries in the region and beyond.”

Tensions between China and the US have been on the rise following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, but Japan has had its own qualms with its Pacific neighbor.

In a statement following the bilateral talks, Japan and the US expressed their concern regarding China’s military involvement around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.

The islands, also known as Diaoyu Dao, are uninhabited and administered by Japan, but claimed by China.

“Taiwan and Diaoyu Dao are both Chinese territories. Issues relating to Hong Kong and Xinjiang are purely China’s internal affairs,” the Foreign Ministry said. “China has indisputable sovereignty over islands in the South China Sea and waters around them.”

The US-Japan meeting came just days after 22 Chinese aircraft flew into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, including fighter jets and nuclear-capable bombers.

The US Navy has in turn increased their presence in the Taiwan Strait and Biden said the US along with Japan, are “committed to working together to take on the challenges from China.”

Source: https://nypost.com/2021/04/19/china-accuses-us-japan-of-ganging-up-on-them/

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A Chinese aircraft carrier task group led by Liaoning is currently conducting what Beijing has called a “routine” combat exercise east of Taiwan, while the U.S. military monitors the drill in the Pacific and deploys the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group to the South China Sea.

These are signs that the U.S., China, and Taiwan are locked in a “vicious cycle” as tensions continue to rise in the region, according to Ma Chen-kun, a professor with the Graduate Institute of China Military Affairs Studies at National Defense University in Taoyuan in northeastern Taiwan.

The Taiwan Strait now resembles the Balkans before the outbreak of the First World War, Ma added, saying the “window for peace”—a non-violent resolution to relations between China and Taiwan—was growing ever smaller.

“Although no country intends to trigger a war, the powder kegs of war are spread throughout the Taiwan Strait and the surrounding region,” he was quoted as saying.

His remarks came on the day Taiwan’s defense ministry reported four People’s Liberation Army aircraft sorties into the island’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), a self-declared buffer that is not regulated under international law. On Monday, as Liaoning and five accompanying Chinese warships entered the Western Pacific, the PLA flew 10 fighter jets and reconnaissance planes into the ADIZ.

Tuesday’s panel, which discussed Secretary of State Antony Blinken‘s visits to Asia and Europe, included Li Shih-hui, a professor at National Chengchi University (NCCU) in Taipei.

Blinken’s foreign visits to Tokyo, Seoul, and Brussels—the first diplomatic calls of the new administration—demonstrated President Joe Biden‘s foreign policy strategy of re-establishing the common interests of American and its allies, Li said.

By prioritizing its competition with Beijing and doing so from the perspectives of human rights and security, the Biden administration had created a contrast between the U.S. and China, highlighting the latter’s threat to regional order in Asia, the professor added.

The strategic significance of Taiwan has risen on the agenda in discussions between Washington and Tokyo, said Li, who is with NCCU’s Japan Studies program. The island’s increased visibility on the international stage was a “diplomatic breakthrough,” he added but said it had dragged Taiwan into the larger U.S.-China battle for supremacy.

Despite the support it has received for its technological advancements and human rights achievements, Taiwan needed to be agile and flexible in order to meet the strategic challenges ahead, Li concluded.

Amid warnings from Beijing, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Sunday stressed the importance of Taiwan’s peace and stability to the region. He said he hoped to work with President Biden to lower cross-strait tensions.

“It is important for Japan and the United States to cooperate and use deterrence to create an environment where Taiwan and China can find a peaceful solution,” he said in a television interview.

Suga and Biden are scheduled to hold a summit in Washington on April 16, according to the White House.

The two leaders will reportedly mention peace across the Taiwan Strait as a mutual concern in a joint statement to be released following the Biden administration’s first in-person visit by a foreign leader.

Taiwan’s outlying Kinmen Islands, in the foreground, lie less than 3 miles from the deep-water port of Xiamen, a city in China’s eastern province of Fujian. The Taiwan Strait, just 80 miles wide at its narrowest point, separates China and Taiwan’s main island.AN RONG XU/GETTY IMAGES

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/taiwan-strait-powder-keg-that-could-set-off-world-war-military-expert-warns-1581277

The post Taiwan Strait a ‘Powder Keg’ That Could Set Off World War, Military Expert Warns first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Japan‘s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and President Joe Biden will together stress the importance of stability in the Taiwan Strait following their summit in Washington next month, reports Nikkei Asia, but the rare joint statement “will definitely” harm relations between Tokyo and Beijing, China’s state-owned Global Times said in an op-ed on Tuesday.

“If the passage on Taiwan is included in the joint statement after the summit between Suga and Biden, the hit will be grave,” the author wrote in the nationalistic tabloid, saying Tokyo’s decision to take a position on Taiwan “impairs China’s national interests.”

“China will take countermeasures against it,” the author said, adding “Japan’s loss will sharply outweigh its gain” if it sides with Washington, which has issued statements in support of democratic Taiwan amid continued military pressure from Beijing since Biden took office.

Global Times, which presents some of the Chinese government’s most hawkish views, did not reveal how exactly Beijing would react if the upcoming U.S.-Japan statement calls attention to Taiwan’a security. Tuesday’s report by Nikkei Asia says Taipei has not been jointly mentioned by the two countries’ leaders for over half a century.

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