A rap group backed by the Chinese government is warning South Korea in a music video that “you’re going too far” with the deployment of a US missile defense system, as Beijing seeks to bring its state-supported cultural forces to bear in the international dispute.
A member of the group CD REV said government officials worked with them on the video and helped to promote it on foreign Web sites, many of which are blocked in China by official censors emboldened by the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) warnings against foreign “cultural infiltration.”
In the song, group members chant: “About THAAD we say no, no, no,” a reference to the US Army’s missile defense system, formally known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense.
Later in the song, they refer to South Korea, saying: “This time, kid, you’re going too far” and “your big brother’s annoyed,” a nod to China’s view of itself as the preeminent political and economic power in northeast Asia.
Beijing vehemently opposes the missile shield, saying its powerful radar would allow it to monitor missile launches, aircraft flights and other sensitive activities in northeastern China.
South Korea and the US say it is necessary to guard against North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons activities that threaten South Korea, Japan, US territories and possibly even the continental US.
CD REV’s Wang Zixin (王梓鑫) told reporters that the group hopes to rally Chinese worldwide against the deployment of THAAD and demonstrate China’s “tough stance” on the issue.
“We would see government reports and comments, but at the same time, we see the whole event from the position of Chinese,” Wang said.
The video, viewed more than 300,000 times on Facebook and Twitter by yesterday, represents the latest example of China’s use of non-diplomatic channels to broadcast its displeasure with South Korea.
Last year, there were reports that China had stopped giving approval to K-pop performers to play shows in China, on the heels of Seoul signing the agreement to host THAAD.
In March, South Korean officials voiced concerns that Beijing was limiting tourism to their country as an unofficial sanction.
South Korean retailer Lotte, which provided the land for the THAAD deployment, has also been boycotted by Chinese customers and seen construction halted on an amusement park it was building in northeastern China.
Such moves underscore a willingness on the part of CCP leaders to fan the flames of anti-South Korea sentiment, said Lee Sung-yoon, a Korea expert at Tufts University in Massachusetts.
“THAAD retaliation is a Chinese government-engineered project,” Lee said. “It can be controlled and reversed by Beijing ... the Chinese public has no interest in the complexities of missile defense systems.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in