Why China no longer supports North Korea- Freedom Report- Top News- World

China no longer supports North Korea

China News, World News, Korea, North Korea, South Korea, Top News, Freedom News, Freedom Report

China’s North Korea Problem- Bill Collier

China does business with South Korea, China simply spends money on North Korea, and many Chinese consider North Korea to be an expensive liability, while viewing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program as just as likely to be used against China as South Korea.

The Chinese are quite happy to do business with South Korea, and a nuclear strike by North Korea would be an economic blow to China. What the Chinese do want, however, is to see US troops leaving Korea. The idea of having 28,000 US Marines camped on their border, should North Korea collapse, does not appeal to China.

Consider this, however: should North Korea collapse and South Korea move  in, even if just for humanitarian reasons, the very purpose for having Marines in Korea could be questioned. China could pressure Korea to ask US troops, using economic inducements, and no doubt the current US Administration is not going to insist on a continued US presence.

The Chinese certainly do not want a war, and they don’t want North Korea to continue its brinkmanship, but China is not interested in seeing one Korea that it sees as a client state of the USA. This is certainly true, but if China can sacrifice North Korea and get a Korea sans US forces, there is no doubt what they will do.

Those who analyze the present moves by North Korea in light of the succession of Kim Jong Il’s son to the top of the ant heap may be missing another factor.

The regime in the North may be looking down the barrel of imminent economic and political collapse- resistance to the regime and popular disaffection are growing. Without massive Chinese aid, the North cannot sustain itself. China, however, is not wanting to send over trainloads upon trainloads of food and oil and other necessities only to see these supplies end up helping only a few while millions starve or die.

For the past year or so China has been pushing the North to open up its economy, to allow more freedom, and to be more amenable to cooperation and conciliation with the South. The North, however, does not want to hear this and has been engaging in “negative attention getting” to compel China to continue to send supplies or be embarrassed by its behavior.

This is a mistake, but the people at the top in the North are third generation flunkies who inherited their power and did not gain it by wit or merit, much less consent from their People. Quite simply, the leadership of the North is not very intelligent.

China is decreasing its support and has not exactly stepped up to stand behind the latest aggression by the North, which may ultimately cause the North to up the ante and stumble into a real war that costs hundreds of thousands of lives and ends in the North’s demise. The North’s leaders can’t see this, they are victims of believing their own propaganda, and this may have tragic consequences for the people of Korea.

China is not interested in a war, and pushing or allowing the North to engage in war-causing behavior is as unwanted by China as it is to the US and the Korean People.