China Mobilizing Troops, Jets, Near N.Korea Border (Yalu River)

[Capt. Justice]

By Bill Gertz, Border Patrol. .
Aprl 1, 2013. .
This entry was posted from inside .
China. .
.
http://www.michaelprosser.com/2013/04/bill-gertz-border-patrol-china-mobilizing-troops-jets-near-korea-the-washington-free-beacon-april-2-2013-post-1500/
( Excerpt ) .
The officials said the Chinese military activities appear to be based on
concerns about a new outbreak of conflict between North Korea and South
Korea and the United States.
.
China's military maintains a long-standing defense treaty with the North
that obligates China to defend North Korea in the event it is attacked.
The last time Chinese forces backed Pyongyang was during the Korean War
when tens of thousands of Chinese 'volunteers' drove south into the
peninsula.
.
Chinese military spokesmen frequently refer to their relations with the
Korean People's Army, as the North Korean military is called, as ties
'as close as lips and teeth.'
.
Other reports from China indicate that the heightened tensions have led
to a disruption of trade between China and North Korea along the border
between the two countries.
.
One sign of slowed commerce between China and North Korea was a Chinese
Internet report from a restaurant owner in Dandong, China, a border
city, who said commerce between the two countries was disrupted
following North Korea's Feb. 12 underground nuclear test.
.
Since that time, it has been more difficult for the goods from North
Korea to reach China because the North Korean Customs Office closed
frequently as a result of increased Chinese inspections of North Korean
goods.
.
U.S. officials and private analysts said the slowdown may be a sign of
Beijing's displeasure at the North Korean nuclear test.
.
China also held up exports of crude oil to North Korea in February,
according to customs data reviewed by Reuters news agency. The agency
said in a report that it was the first time deliveries of oil were cut
since early 2007.
.
However, in a sign of continuing close relations, the government of
Jilin province announced March 27 that it plans to modernize railway
links to North Korea to bolster cross-border economic and trade ties.
.
The China Tumen-North Korea Rajin Railway and China Tumen-North Korea
Chongjin Railway will be upgraded under the Jilin government plan,
China's official Global Times reported.
.
Additionally, the Chinese plan to set up a special highway passenger
line to connect Tumen to North Korea over the next several years.
.
Other reports from the region stated that North Korean cities in the
northern part of the country were placed on 'combat' alert and have
conducted evacuation drills, officials said.
.
The drills have been carried out in three-day to five-day intervals when
power and water supplies were suspended as part of the exercises.
.
Chinese citizens living in border cities in China also reported hearing
air-raid sirens as part of the exercises, officials said.
.
U.S. officials say China's main fear for its fraternal communist client
regime in North Korea is a collapse of order that leads to large-scale
refugee flows into China.
.
Reports from inside North Korea also revealed that North Korean soldiers
have been issued bread, instant noodles, sausages, milk, and dried fish
that appeared to be supplied by the United Nations as aid meant for the
civilian population.
.
The Feb. 12 underground blast, North Korea's third, is credited by
analysts with setting off the latest round of belligerence by the
Pyongyang regime.
.
After the test, the U.S. government continued to refuse to acknowledge
North Korea as a nuclear-armed state.
.
That prompted the regime of North Korea's Kim Jong Un to issue
unprecedented threats to fire nuclear missiles at the United States.
.
The Pentagon responded by using annual military exercises with South
Korea to fly B-52 strategic bombers and later B-2s near North Korea.
.
Frontline F-22 fighter-bombers, the Air Force's most advanced jets, were
sent on Sunday to take part in the military drills.
.
North Korea's latest threats included announcing a state of war and
cutting off military and other communications.
.
North Korea's ruling communist Korean Workers Party announced on Sunday
that the nuclear arsenal is the "nation's life" and would not be
given up even if offered "billions of dollars," the Associated Press
reports