South Korea cancels Korea-China Culture Town project amid mounting anti-Chinese sentiment

 

• Over 650,000 people signed an online petition against the project in Gangwon Province, despite officials repeatedly stating it was a cultural park, not a Chinatown
• South Korean public sentiment against China has been growing in recent years, with an analyst warning this could damage diplomatic efforts to improve ties

Had it gone ahead, the Korea-China Culture Town would have been built on a site 10 times larger than the country’s most famous Chinatown in Incheon (pictured). Photo: AP

A US$1 billion project to build a tourist district in South Korea has been scrapped due to mounting anti-Chinese sentiment sparked by an online petition wrongly depicting it as a Chinatown.

The decision came after what Gangwon Province head Choi Moon-soon said was a series of “fake news” allegations that taxpayers’ money would have been used to build a settlement town for Chinese immigrants – despite repeated clarifications that it was intended as a cultural park. “It is not a Chinatown,” the province had stated.

Kolon Global Corporation said on Monday it had cancelled the Korea-China Cultural Town project in the face of a fierce public ire sparked by the petition on the presidential Blue House website’s online petition page.

“The company acknowledges that the Korea-China Cultural Town cannot move forward any longer” despite “huge losses” the withdrawal would incur, it said in a notification to Gangwon Province.

Kolon Global said the project was not aimed at building a Chinatown as was claimed by the petitioner and some news reports, but a culture-themed district where tourists would be able to enjoy traditional and modern culture from both China and South Korea.

“Regardless of the truth and facts, we have no alternatives but pay heed to the voices of the 650,000 people who have signed the petition, because [South Korean] people are also clients who are no less important than foreign tourists,” it said.

Had it gone ahead, the Korea-China Culture Town would have been built by 2022 on a site 10 times larger than the country’s most famous Chinatown in Incheon city, west of Seoul.

It would have provided a range of facilities and attractions, including Korean style buildings, traditional Chinese gardens, a K-pop museum and a Korean Wave video display, “enabling mutual cultural exchanges between the two countries”, the province said.

But the clarifications failed to quell the rumours and soothe public anger, which was further stoked by further false reports that the province planned to bulldoze a prehistoric site to build hotels catering to Chinese tourists.

“Why should we create a little China on the soil of the Republic of Korea [South Korea],” read the online petition titled “Scrap the Chinatown Construction in Gangwon”.

“People don’t understand why we should provide chances for experiencing Chinese culture on our own land. Don’t yield any piece of our land to China,” said the petition which garnered a whopping 660,000 signatures since it was published on the Blue House website on March 29.

South Koreans in traditional hanbok attire visit Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul. Photo: EPA-EFE

The hostility to what Gangwon was promoting as a cultural exchange venue reflected popular perceptions that China is engaged in “cultural imperialism against Korea”, said the Korea Joongang Daily.

The petitioner said Koreans were worrying they might lose their cultural identity to China’s attempts to “plunder” Korean traditional cultural heritage and distort history to include ancient Korean kingdoms that existed in Manchuria as part of China.

“It is time to confront China”, which keeps trying to steal our culture”, said the petitioner.

This could spark angry reactions from Chinese people, especially young online warriors, damaging diplomatic efforts to improve ties Professor Yoon Sung-suk

A different online petition posted on March 24 on the Blue House website condemned a new SBS TV history-themed fantasy series Chosun Exorcists as distorting historical facts and using props of Chinese origin such as mooncakes and specific home decorations.

It has secured some 250,000 signatures over the past month, forcing SBS to pull the plug on the series after airing only two episodes, incurring millions of dollars in losses.

“It is quite regrettable that public opinions have been trending in the wrong direction against truths and facts, forcing Kolon Global to abandon the project,” a Gangwon Province official told This Week in Asia.

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The public petitions run counter to rapprochement on the political level, underscored by a bilateral foreign ministers’ meeting in Xiamen early this month – the first South Korean ministerial level visit to China since 2017.

“Some Chinese people may see this incident as an epitome of anti-China sentiments in this country,” said Yoon Sung-suk, a political-science professor at Chonnam National University.

“This could spark angry reactions from Chinese people, especially young online warriors, damaging diplomatic efforts to improve ties.”

Public sentiment against an increasingly assertive China has been growing in the country in recent years, especially after China’s economic retaliation against South Korea over its 2016 deployment of the highly sophisticated US missile defence system known as Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).

Controversies over Korean food and clothing, and China’s purported attempts to distort history and “hijack” cultural heritage further stoked public anger, especially amid the Covid-19 pandemic, compelling many young South Koreans and Chinese to denounce the other country online.

“Korea is becoming like a colony by the Chinese Communist Party … Politics, economy and culture are all commandeered by China,” tweeted one user.

But others voiced different opinions. “Chinatown in Gangwon Province turned out to be a fake news! Someone attempted to frame it up (as a community settlement for Chinese immigrants),” tweeted Kim Mi-kyoung.

Hong Kong Passes Law That Can Stop People Leaving

Bar association and activists decry Beijing-type immigration act with ‘exit ban’ powers

There are fears that Hong Kong’s new law, which sailed through the legislature, gives the government unfettered powers on who comes in and out the territory. Photograph: Tyrone Siu/Reuters

Hong Kong has passed a new immigration law that includes powers to stop people entering or leaving the city, raising fears of Chinese mainland-style “exit bans” in the international business hub.

The legislation sailed through a legislature now devoid of opposition, as Beijing has quashed dissent and sought to make the semi-autonomous city more like the authoritarian mainland after huge and often violent democracy protests.

Activists, lawyers and some business figures have sounded the alarm over provisions in the bill, including one allowing the city’s immigration chief to bar people from boarding planes to and from the city. No court order is required and there is no recourse to appeal. The city’s bar association (HKBA) said the bill’s wording gave “apparently unfettered power” to the immigration director.

Labour activists and legal critics said the legislature had ignored concerns about the law’s broad wording, and they feared exit bans could now be used in Hong Kong. “When they have this power, absolute power, you don’t know who they will use it on,” said one barrister, Chow Hang-tung, from the pro-democracy Hong Kong Alliance.

Hong Kong’s government said the immigration bill was needed to address a backlog of non-refoulement claims and to screen migrants travelling illegally before they left for the city. The security bureau said the bill would only apply to flights into Hong Kong.

However, the wording of the bill does not limit the government’s powers to those arriving in the territory or to immigrants, and legal experts say it could also be used against people trying to leave Hong Kong.

“Exit bans” are often used in mainland China against activists who challenge the authorities, and have also affected business figures. One example is Richard O’Halloran, an Irish national who has been prevented from leaving Shanghai for two years because of a legal dispute involving the Chinese owner of the Dublin-based company he works for.

Under Beijing’s direction, Hong Kong’s government has become more authoritarian since the 2019 protests. Faith in official assurances that the city is not becoming like the mainland has been rattled by the recent crackdown.

Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong last year, arguing it was needed for a return to stability and would not affect freedoms. But its broad wording and subsequent application has criminalised much dissent and radically transformed a once politically pluralistic city. Many of Hong Kong’s prominent pro-democracy figures have been arrested, detained or have fled overseas.

The city’s formerly raucous legislature has been cleared of pro-democracy opponents, who resigned en masse late last year after three of their colleagues were disqualified for their political views. Since then, the government has fast-tracked a number of laws with limited scrutiny and dissent in the legislature.

Wednesday’s immigration bill received 39 votes in favour and two against. It was passed shortly after lawmakers approved a budget in record time, with just one dissenting vote.

Beijing has also announced a new plan – nicknamed “patriots rule Hong Kong” – to vet anyone standing for office and reduce the number of directly elected seats in the legislature to a small minority.

Critics of the immigration bill say it will make it easier to detain and deport refugees. Hong Kong approves only about 1% of refugee claims, one of the lowest rates in the world, and there is a huge backlog. Refugees are not able to work while their applications are being processed and live in often miserable conditions.

48 hours on, forest fires rage across Mizoram

According to a satellite data assessment by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), there were as many as 2,671 forest fire points in the state between April 20 and 26, with over 400 points on Monday alone.

By Jayashree Nandi


New Delhi: Massive forest fires that broke out on Saturday and continued to rage till Monday have affected several parts of Mizoram and damaged vast tracts of land, satellite images have revealed. No human casualty has been reported so far.

According to a satellite data assessment by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), there were as many as 2,671 forest fire points in the state between April 20 and 26, with over 400 points on Monday alone. NASA’s Earthdata website also showed a very large concentration of fires in and around the state both on Sunday and Monday.

Speaking to chief minister Zoramthanga, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday assured all possible assistance to deal with the situation. “Spoke to Mizoram CM, Mr Zoramthanga and took stock of the situation arising due to forest fires in parts of the state. Assured all possible support from the Centre in overcoming the crisis,” Modi tweeted.

The chief minister later thanked Modi and even tweeted a video of an Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper with bambi buckets (used for aerial firefighting), trying to douse the flames. “Thank you so much Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji. I thank the Central Government for its prompt assurance and swift action. The people of #Mizoram says ‘Kan lawm e,” Zoramthanga posted on Twitter.

Manipur woman fined for travelling with fake Covid-19 negative report

A 21-year-old woman in Manipur’s Thoubal district has been fined for travelling with a fake Covid-19 negative test report, official sources said.

According to an official order by Thoubal district magistrate N Bandana Devi on Monday, Wangkhem Rabina Devi travelled from Hyderabad to Imphal on April 22 by IndiGo flight via Kolkata using a fake Covid-I9 negative report.

“Upon investigation and verification by the surveillance team at Imphal airport, it was found that Rabina Devi was Covid-19 positive on April 21,” the order said. “Such an irresponsible act will likely transmit/spread in future to other co-passenger and contacts travelling in the above flight.”

A fine of ₹2,000 has been imposed on Rabina Devi and “she must execute a bond with sureties for her good behaviour for a period of six months under Section 110 of Cr PC, 1973 as and when she is declared medically fit to appear before the executive magistrate,” the order said.