North Korean restaurants in China remain open

To comply with sanctions on North Korean companies operating abroad, China set a deadline of January 9 to shut down all North Korean companies in the country.

• “Some North Korean restaurants in Beijing are still accepting reservations beyond this date,” and some companies “have evaded sanctions by changing their ownership structure and transferring majority stakes to Chinese investors,” according to Caixin.
• “Stopping people from freely visiting North Korea is a human rights issue. You are evil,” one official at the office of North Korean International Travel Agency in the Chinese border city of Dandong told Channel News Asia, which has also reported on a number of North Korean businesses that plan to stay open.

• Missiles aimed at Taiwan
  3, 2, 1 … lift-off for a barrage of Chinese military missile tests / SCMP
  “An armed forces news outlet offers a high-resolution look at what appear to be weapons capable of precision strikes on Taiwan.”
• South China Sea
  US accuses Beijing of ‘provocative militarisation’ of South China Sea / SCMP
  “China’s provocative militarisation of the South China Sea is one area where China is contesting international law. They are pushing around smaller states in ways that put a strain on the global system,” said Brian Hook, a senior adviser to US Secretary of  State Rex Tillerson.
• Anti-corruption campaign
  China to prosecute top military commander over alleged corruption / WSJ (paywall)
  “Fang Fenghui 房峰辉, who is accused of bribery, is the latest target of President Xi’s campaign against corruption in the military.”
• Central Asian trade
  A visa-free zone welcomes your wallet. But maybe not your beard / NYT (paywall)
  “Except for men with long beards and women wearing veils or jewelry with a crescent moon motif, just about anyone can enter Chinese territory — at least a few miles of it,” at the border between Xinjiang and Kazakhstan.
• One-country-two-systems watch
  China’s legal move into train station hits Hong Kong rule of law, bar chief says / Reuters
• Shipping accidents
  As oil tanker burns, environmentalists raise spill concerns / Sixth Tone