China Reform Monitor: No. 1129

October 10:

The South Korea coast guard has shot dead a Chinese fishing boat captain after he resisted the inspection of his ship for suspected illegal fishing. A brawl erupted when a dozen South Korean coast guard officers boarded the Chinese ship in South Korea’s exclusive economic zone, AP reports. Then, according to a coast guard statement, four additional Chinese fishing ships arrived and their crewmembers boarded the ship wielding knifes and beer bottles and knocked off the South Korean officers’ helmets and began choking them. After firing three blanks, a South Korean officer fired eight shots including the one that killed the captain, who had begun to violently resist. Last year, South Korea's coast guard seized 220 Chinese ships for illegal fishing in the Yellow Sea.

[Editor’s Note: South Korea and China are at odds over a set of submerged rocks controlled by Seoul but claimed by Beijing. In 2012, a Chinese fisherman died after a South Korean guardsman fired a rubber bullet at him during a similar inspection. In 2011, a South Korean coast guard officer was killed in a clash with Chinese fishermen in South Korean waters.]

In an unusual criticism of the Communist Party leadership, Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou has expressed support for demonstrators in Hong Kong and urged Beijing to move towards democracy. In his speech on Taiwan’s National Day Ma said that China should embrace democracy, and start by allowing free elections in Hong Kong. In comments carried by the Los Angeles Times Ma said: “Thirty years ago, when Deng Xiaoping was pushing for reform and opening up in the mainland, he famously proposed letting some people get rich first. So why couldn’t they do the same thing in Hong Kong, and let some people go democratic first? Now that the 1.3 billion people on the mainland have become moderately wealthy, they will of course wish to enjoy greater democracy and rule of law. Such a desire has never been a monopoly of the West, but is the right of all humankind.”

October 14:

“China has failed to establish a mechanism to deal with inter-government agency disputes,” Guangzhou’s South Reviews magazine reports according to Want China Times. In July police in Chengdu, Sichuan detained three court officials from Hebei after they fined a local company for obstructing their work. When Hebei court officials began bargaining over the fine, the company called the local police. Chengdu police and the Hebei court have begun publicly attacking each other, with the court alleging that the police used violence and accepted bribes while handling the case. Meanwhile, in Shanxi court officials from neighboring Shaanxi seized over 30 vehicles with no license plates but traffic police in Shanxi stopped the motorcade claiming that plate-less vehicles are banned from the roads. After Shanxi secured the support of a deputy public security minister, the head of the Shaanxi court appeared on TV to defend his deputies.

October 15:

The State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office has rebuked Taiwan’s President Ma for its “irresponsible” comments on Hong Kong and democracy and said Beijing was “resolutely opposed” to his views on political reform in Hong Kong and the mainland. Beijing also warned Taipei against hosting the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, in response to Taiwan’s official invitation, the South China Morning Post reports.

October 17:

To match China’s infrastructure development in Tibet, India has announced plans to construct an 1,800 km road network along the boundary with China in Arunachal Pradesh, the Times of India reports. Beijing reacted with alarm to India's plans: “Before a final settlement is reached, we hope that India will not take any action that may further complicate the situation,” said an official spokesman. In response to Beijing’s rebuke, India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh said: “no country can warn India. India has emerged as a strong country in the world. As far as India-China border issue is concerned, I think China should sit with India and resolve this issue,” India’s Economic Times reports. The two countries have already held 17 fruitless rounds of special representative talks to resolve the border dispute. In September, India began building some 6,000 km of roads and military facilities within 100 km of the contested border.