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China Bans K-pop Music

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21–30 of 34 posts

Re: China Bans K-pop Music

#21
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those, like me, who were not in the know regarding THAAD, it stands for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense and is a US made antimissile defense system. The US is working with South Korea to install THAAD systems there. China is not happy about this.

It seems like pure defense system. Why should anyone object to it?

Because ABM was and is considered by most nations a threat to world peace as it increases the chance of a first strike by the party who has it. There was an Anti-ABM treaty which he US signed and then unilaterally withdrew from. US missile defense is progressing to the point of making the Russian (and Chinese) strategic arensals ineffective once it reaches that point the US can execute a first strike without fearing retaliation. Russia can't afford ABM so they are building new delivery systems, China doesn't have the tech nor does it seem to want to develop its nuclear arsenal any further. Both of them look at the US missile shield as a clear threat to their national security and regional and world peace because it would give the US the ability to do what every they want with impunity.

Re: China Bans K-pop Music

#22
post #19

There's something truly childish about Chinese diplomacy. They regularly release statements to the effect that the Chinese people have been insulted by some obscure diplomatic statement, and now they're implementing sanctions in the form of banning pop music of all things. Anyone have any recommendations for books or articles that shed some light on this seemingly bizarre behavior?

It does not seem childish to me.

From the article:

> Why? .... South Korea made the decision to deploy the THAAD American missile defense system in the country

They are responding to increased military tension with their neighbor, with a minor economic sanction that will not hurt the health, welfare, or stability of their neighbouring country.

Such sanctions are a warning shot---a way of saying "yes you see what we did to the pop industry? we can do that to your heavy mining industry next".

Re: China Bans K-pop Music

#23
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those, like me, who were not in the know regarding THAAD, it stands for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense and is a US made antimissile defense system. The US is working with South Korea to install THAAD systems there. China is not happy about this.

It seems like pure defense system. Why should anyone object to it?

China and NK consider themselves allies, as do the US and SK. And China+NK are not allied with US+SK. And that region is unlikely to be affected by any significant non-aligned players.

[It's a bit more complicated than that, of course. And THAAD isn't 100% effective. But the details don't change the overall picture much.]

If a missile is ever stopped by THAAD, it means SK+US didn't want it to land. Which probably means China+NK launched it, and did want it to land. Meanwhile, if SK+US decide to go on the offensive, THAAD won't stop their attack, but will mitigate any retaliation from China+NK.

THAAD is bad for China+NK in both scenarios.

In addition, since THAAD's existence makes it a whole lot less risky for US+SK to go on the offensive -- it makes it more likely that they would do so. And China+NK certainly wouldn't want to defend against a US+SK with THAAD being in place.

Re: China Bans K-pop Music

#24
If China didn't want a missile shield at their doorstep, maybe, just maybe, they should've stop propping up a regime that carries out provocative ballistic missile tests in the region and threatens nuclear strikes against neighbors ad nauseam. China has nobody but themselves and shortsighted foreign policy to blame for this mess.

Re: China Bans K-pop Music

#26

If China didn't want a missile shield at their doorstep, maybe, just maybe, they should've stop propping up a regime that carries out provocative ballistic missile tests in the region and threatens nuclear strikes against neighbors ad nauseam. China has nobody but themselves and shortsighted foreign policy to blame for this mess.

Yes China. Stop propping up the USA!

Re: China Bans K-pop Music

#27
post #19

There's something truly childish about Chinese diplomacy. They regularly release statements to the effect that the Chinese people have been insulted by some obscure diplomatic statement, and now they're implementing sanctions in the form of banning pop music of all things. Anyone have any recommendations for books or articles that shed some light on this seemingly bizarre behavior?

It does not seem childish to me. From the article: > Why? .... South Korea made the decision to deploy the THAAD American missile defense system in the country They are responding to increased military tension with their neighbor, with a minor economic sanction that will not hurt the health, welfare, or stability of their neighbouring country. Such sanctions are a warning shot---a way of saying "yes you see what we d…

> we can do that to your heavy mining industry next

You're ostensibly incorrect because China is a member of the WTO and can't unilaterally start economic sanctions against other WTO members.

I'm no expert but a particular kind of music (k-pop) is more cultural than anything else and so it may be one of the few legal options China has.

Re: China Bans K-pop Music

#28
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like pure defense system. Why should anyone object to it?

Because it breaks the doctrine of mutually assured destruction. If China loses the ability to effectively retaliate against a hypothetical US nuclear strike, it loses its superpower status.

THAAD isn't overly destablising to MAD, which operates on the strategic level. It has little effectiveness against ICBM re-entry vehicles which move very, very fast ( about 8 to 10 km / s ) and have all sorts of decoys and countermeasures.

It is designed for dealing with theatre missiles, IRBMs and the like, which move much more slowly, aren't well protected and aren't generally considered in the MAD calcul

Per state.gov:

Many of our regional defense deployments, like the Patriot system and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD system, are inherently designed for theater use. They are not capable of defending against ICBMs launched at the United States. THAAD, however, is capable of defending against the medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic missile that North Korea is deploying.

Re: China Bans K-pop Music

#29
The linked article is hyperbolic if we're generous, in my opinion it qualifies as an instance of "fake news".

>China has prohibited all hallyu, or Korean Wave (K-pop), content in the country

This and the headline are false. K-pop is available on Chinese music streaming services, Korean dramas are similarly still airing, etc. What is true is that Korean stars are increasingly being barred from having concerts, events, and TV appearances in China, and that is leading to concern about whether more regulations are to come. BTW, MAMA 2016 went ahead without issues.

A non-clickbait account: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/04/south-koreas-k-po...

Re: China Bans K-pop Music

#30
The article reminds me how Obama stopped the burgeoning deployment of this system in various European countries at Russia's request, right after he took office, and I wonder if Trump will try to restart the effort to deploy them.
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