Pyongyang Tests China's Patience

[nadinbrzezinski]

Source: Wall Street Journal

Pyongyang Tests China's Patience


By JEREMY PAGE And JASON DEAN


Kyodo /Landov
The Aftermath of a Deadly Strike: People searched through the debris of destroyed buildings on Yeonpyeong Island on Thursday, following North Korea's artillery barrage against the South Korean territory in the Yellow Sea on Tuesday, an attack that drew international criticism and strained Pyongyang's ties with Beijing.

BEIJING—North Korea's latest act of aggression against the South has prompted a new round of public debate in China on how to manage ties with a neighbor that is at once a close ally but, increasingly, a source of international embarrassment.

The government's official response to North Korea's shelling of a South Korean island village remains cautious, stopping well short of criticism of the North.

In comments reported Thursday, Premier Wen Jiabao said China opposes "any provocative military behavior" on the Korean peninsula. Mr. Wen was speaking in Russia as the U.S. and South Korea prepare for joint naval exercises in the Yellow Sea in response to the deadly attack. But it wasn't clear whether his warning referred to North Korea's attack, or to the South Korean exercises Pyongyang claims to have responded to, or to the planned naval drills between the U.S. and South Korea.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704638304575637840399774902.html

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Well the face saving and all that has begun...

And no, Beijing don't have control over Pyongyang.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SkyDaddy7]

2. Self Delete

[David__77]

3. This headline reflects Western hopes, not reality.

There is no evidence that China opposes the actions of N. Korea. It is well-known, however, that China supports the withdrawal of US forces from S. Korea.

[lovuian]

4. Agree this is not reality

China is behind it 100%

[Imajika]

5. Bingo..

I was just about to tap out the same response.

There is zero evidence to support the idea that China particularly opposes the aggressive actions North Korea has taken. We WISH that were the case, but China has not demonstrated that it is.

China mostly wants US forces off the Korean peninsula and to make sure a unified Korea never comes to pass.

[sudopod]

6. China and NK haven't been best friends since Deng Xioping

and it's been going down hill ever since. Not to mention that the Chinese take some offense at the fact that NK now refuses to acknowledge the part that the Chinese 'volunteers' played in preventing a total defeat for the DPRK during the Korean War, among many other things.

The PRC wants to keep the status quo, or failing that, the cheapest and least disruptive possible solution for China. In this case, that means several PLA divisions sitting on the border, preventing a wave of politically and economically destabilizing North Korean immigration when the Pyongyang government falls. China will not fight a war for the Kim family any longer.

[David__77]

7. They haven't been best friends since 1966, when Mao was alive.

The "leftist" factions in China were virulently anti-N. Korea, seeing it as a bastion of phony communism, like the Soviet Union. Relations were frosty, and there were actually border clashes on a small scale at that time. Of course, China establishing relations with S. Korea in the early 90s was a blow to N. Korea, but it didn't fundamentally change relations with China.

N. Korea has not, since the 60s, acknowledged the magnitude of China's contribution during the war. In the 50s they did only because the last Chinese troops didn't leave until 1959 or so.

China may not wage conventional war against the US in case of a new full-scale Korean war, but it would provide assistance to N. Korea and use unconventional means to disrupt US war effort. Such a conflict would be very different than Iraq or Afghanistan, as N. Korea has a functioning state, reasonably advanced and destructive weapons, and a dedicated core of public support that would fight. As far as immigration from N. Korea, China doesn't mind all too much economically, as its cheap labor, but it keeps its treaties with N. Korea that mandate return of immigrants.