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Korea
China sends troops to NorK border
2003-09-15
EFL, RTWT
Guard duties along China’s increasingly tense border with North Korea have been transferred from the police to the People’s Liberation Army, China’s Foreign Ministry said Monday. The announcement, made in a brief statement faxed to reporters, follows media reports of heavy deployment of Chinese combat units to the border area in northeastern China’s Jilin province. The region has reportedly seen an upsurge in border crossings and crime by impoverished North Koreans and armed North Korean soldiers. The Foreign Ministry statement said it had no information about reports that 150,000 troops had been sent to the border. It said the decision to turn over Kimmiewatch guard duties to the PLA’s border guard unit had been planned years ago and was designed to express Beijing’s displeasure bring the area in line with other parts of China’s land border that are guarded by the military. The Sunday Morning Post newspaper in Hong Kong reported on Sunday that 150,000 troops had been sent to the border region since the middle of last month in a move to stem cross-border gathering crime by North Korean foragers soldiers.
Posted by:Dishman

#13  Hey, Kimmie? Who's side are they going to come in on this time if the shit hits the fan? Are you thinking about that? Maybe you should be.
Posted by: tu3031   2003-9-15 11:26:54 PM  

#12   The chinese are probably getting swarmed with refugees and are trying to stem the tide.
China hasn't had a great year, crop-wise, the worldwide recession that started in 1999/2000 is causing them some pain, and there's a host of problems on the horizon - Taiwan, a possibly nuclear-armed Japan, increasing Russian activity on the northern border, a resurgent Tibetan presence, and Muslim fruitcakes acting up in a few of China's western provinces. They don't need Kimmie causing more trouble. They also don't need to have to deal with a million refugees, and that is a very real possibility. They want Kimmie to clean up his playpen, and he's not cooperating. China could walk over Kim in a heartbeat, even with as few as 150,000 soldiers. Kim gets his ammunition from China. China has probably already frozen any such shipments. Without daily intervention from China, Kim has no gasoline, no coal for power plants, very little of anything for anything. More importantly, winter is only a few months away. Kim can either be warm and play nice with the big boys, or he can freeze his kiester off while trying to eat snow.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2003-9-15 8:10:14 PM  

#11  The northern area of NK is almost totally undefended. If 150k troops started from the border at breakfast, they would have lunch in Pyongyang. But what would be the fun in that? The PRC has no reason to stop Kimmey's sideshow with the nukes. It keeps Japan, SK , and the U.S. at bay. It's sort of Win, win, win for them on the strategic front. Unless we made some deal to let them 'liberate' the north, but what's in it for the PRC? 24 Million people to feed? Not a winning scenario. Maybe they are there to keep the Korean out in case of a SK attack?
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter)   2003-9-15 7:54:14 PM  

#10  The Russians just conducted excercises on their border. The Japanese are hassling the ferry riders. Almost like a multinational effort is underway. Read something over the weekend about how nothing would get done with too many countries at the table. Evidence is proving otherwise. This looks like the type of intervention that family members and coworkers use to confront drunks.
Posted by: Super Hose   2003-9-15 4:47:00 PM  

#9  They are getting swarmed by refugees and bandidos, but this has very clear signals that go beyond Immigration reform.

Kimmie has been a naughty little satellite and has made them look bad to the big kids. PRC wanted to broker a deal, and he's screwed it up twice, now. They certainly don't want to give the mean old Merkins a reason to be sniffing around.

150k troops means stuff even to an NKOR whacko. PRC is spending big dollars they would rather do other things with, to send a message to bad puppy. When the Foreign Ministry, which will not normally concede whether it is day or night at any given moment, announces the move, it's a message.
Posted by: Mark IV   2003-9-15 4:15:24 PM  

#8  I wouldn't get to excited bout this. The chinese are probably getting swarmed with refugees and are trying to stem the tide. I seriously doubt they are planning to lauch any type of invasion plan or would even come close to helping us in one.
Posted by: Damn_Proud_American   2003-9-15 1:59:58 PM  

#7  This has to be freaking lil'Kimmie out. All his "safe havens" are nestled right up against the Chinese border, where it would be a cinch for a quick smash and grab operation if Kimmie starts anything. Kimmie is NOT ready for a 2-front war, his entire stratedy is predicated on having that nice big friendly doggie at his back.
Posted by: Anonymous   2003-9-15 12:39:51 PM  

#6  Sog, you forget that the vast majority of NKor's soldiers are in the south part of the country, across the DMZ from SKor. Red China is one of the few countries Kimmie trusts, and I'd imagine the landscape between the northern border and the capital is relatively lightly defended: The only duty of the Army in that region is to enforce order on a gunless populace.
Posted by: Ptah   2003-9-15 11:16:09 AM  

#5  SOG:

150,000 is not much of a force to deal with 1.5 million soldiers using the latest in 1950's military hardware.

I suspect most of those 1.5 million soldiers are trained to look south most of the time, and the thousands of artillery pieces threatening Seoul don't bother the Chinese one bit...
Posted by: snellenr   2003-9-15 11:16:03 AM  

#4  Kimmie, put down the toys, step back and raise your hands.

150,000 is not much of a force to deal with 1.5 million soldiers using the latest in 1950's military hardware. Why anyone was intimidated by him or his father is beyond me. We should have whacked them both a long time ago.
Posted by: SOG475   2003-9-15 9:35:21 AM  

#3  Appears that way,Ptah.150,000 does see like a hell of alot of"Border Gaurds".
Posted by: raptor   2003-9-15 9:21:49 AM  

#2  Something's going down. This is good news.
Posted by: Ptah   2003-9-15 9:07:45 AM  

#1  Diplo-speak is still a marvel of bullshit to me. No matter how transparent or petty or pointless, there seems to be an absolute wall between diplo-reasoning / statements and reality. "Nope, we've been planning this for years. No big deal. Nothing to see here. Move along. Move along." Heh, heh.
Posted by: .com (Prez for Life - My Isles of Langerhans)   2003-9-15 5:37:42 AM  

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