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China is pursuing the so-called Northeast Project to co-opt Korean history with an eye on claiming North Korean territory when the regime there collapses, a senior lawmaker quoted a Chinese leader as saying. Former National Assembly speaker Kim Won-ki quoted the remarks in the Unification, Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee on Thursday, saying they were made in a frank meeting with the high-ranking Chinese official.
The Chinese leader also reportedly said Beijing finds the Kim Jong-il regime and the political situation in North Korea very unstable. In any emergency, the U.S and allied army would move to North Korea¡¯s border with China and face the Chinese People's Liberation Army there, a situation Beijing would not tolerate, he said.
Meanwhile, Chinese attempts to distort ancient Korean history have this time taken it to the point of trademarking as their own the spot of the birth of the Korean people according to the Dangun mythology, Mt. Baekdu, by attaching the Chinese name, "Changbai shan."
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Chinese students perform a torch-lighting ceremony for the 2007 Asian Winter Games, which will open in January in Changchun, at Mt. Baekdu on the border with North Korea on Wednesday.
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On Wednesday, China¡¯s torch-lighting ceremony for the 2007 Asian Winter Games that start on Jan. 28 in Changchun, took place at Cheonji, one of the highest crater lakes in the world on the summit of Mt. Baekdu. Holding an international ceremony there has the PR effect of giving the impression that the landmark is Chinese -- which it technically is, since Beijing took the northern part of Mt.Baekdu centered on the crater lake as the heavy price for joining the Korean War.
With the aim of attracting the 2018 Winter Olympics, Beijing's development of the area are reaching fever pitch. There are going to be international ski resorts and hotels, and China is breaking ground on an airport. The plans, observers say, are part of a broader strategy to add the region to its dominion. Beijing is also lobbying UNESCO to designate the area a World Heritage site.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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