What has China been doing in the face of all this North Korean bluster? China is North Korea’s one remaining “ally” in the region, and they, by treaty, have an obligation to come to the aid of North Korea.
But China, the great pragmatists that they are, do not appear at all happy with the spew coming out of Pyongyang.
On the one hand, China is sending troops to the North Korean border in a modest build up. This could both signal their willingness to back up their ally, but also their desire to not have any spillage into China.
China continued moving tanks and armored vehicles and flying flights near North Korea this week as part of a military buildup in the northeastern part of the country that U.S. officials say is related to the crisis with North Korea.
The Obama administration, meanwhile, sought to play down the Chinese military buildup along the border with Beijing’s fraternal communist ally despite the growing danger of conflict following unprecedented threats by Pyongyang to attack the United States and South Korea with nuclear weapons.
On the other hand when the UN voted a new round of sanctions against North Korea for nuclear testing, China went along with the resolution in the effort to moderate the North Korean tone.
The relations between China and North Korea are not good.
NORTH KOREA has reportedly asked China to send them an envoy in order to improve their soured relations, but according to reports Beijing rejected the plea from its old ally, in what could be seen as a warning regarding the regime’s recent warmongering rhetoric.
North Korea requested China send a high-ranking envoy at the deputy-ministerial-level, but China rejected it, a South Korean newspaper revealed today.
“China said ‘if they want an envoy, North Korea should send their envoy [to China] first,’” a source said, according to the JoongAng Ilbo.
Beijing has expressed “serious concern” over the soaring crisis at the Korean peninsula, after Pyongyang banned South Koreans from entering a jointly run complex.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei yesterday called on all sides to “remain calm and exercise restraint and not take actions which are mutually provocative and must certainly not take actions which will worsen the situation.”
The last thing China wants is war, they are happy to cyber attack us and steal our technology in a low-key way.
Many believe that North Korea wants leverage to bring people back to the table so they can get things by shaking the nuclear saber.
Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General, spoke today of North Korea calming down and everybody negotiating to settle the question.
White House spokesman Jay Carney described the threats as “regrettable but familiar”, adding the US was taking “all the necessary precautions”.
Mr Ban told a news conference in Madrid that “nuclear threat is not a game, it’s very serious… I think they [North Korea] have gone too far in their rhetoric”.
He called on all parties in the crisis to “calm down the situation and engage in dialogue”.
So Ban Ki Moon sounds like he is giving them what they may indeed want, he is feeding the child’s temper tantrum.
What was the precipitating action of the tantrum? Well, there really wasn’t one, thus, what to dialogue about?
In this instance, the more correct response seems to be Carney’s- “regrettable but familiar” as in “we know you are just dancing to get stuff”.
Of course, it is wise to consider all eventualities and be adequately prepared.
But you don’t feed a tantrum if you expect behavior to change. Perhaps you even punish the child so they learn that a tantrum is never a good approach.
But now might be a good time for China to put a further arm on its wayward brother and tell it, in more severe terms, to shape up.