The Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with his North Korean counterpart yesterday in the Philippines and requested North Korea not to escalate tensions by conducting more rocket and missile tests. It has not been mentioned whether the Chinese foreign minister also threatened to stop all trade with North Korea. There is also no news available as to what the North Korean reaction was to the Chinese request. Did they agree to the request or did they decide to ignore whatever the Chinese foreign minister had said?
According to the BBC, China has long been a backer of North Korea.
Many political observers have opined that all the actions taken by the North are in reality a proxy for China, as the North could never have reached this stage if China was serious about stopping the nuclear and missile program. The United States and the UN Security Council have put pressure on China and the result is that China has been forced to make a cosmetic show after the Security Council approved the harshest sanctions ever against North Korea.
US saber rattling
China has been against any stringent action against North Korea and wants the USA to stop its saber rattling on the Korean Peninsula. It is also concerned about the deployment of the THAAD Missile system as it feels is a threat to their security.
The Russians are also not happy with the deployment of the missile system in South Korea. However, both the countries, China and Russia did not veto the UN resolution on further stringent sanctions against North Korea.
China and the North
Before the resolution was adopted by the UN Security Council there were tough negotiations between China and the USA.
It has to be seen how serious China is about tightening the screws on its long time ally. China intervened on the side of the North Korean army during the Korean War and the Americans failed to win a decisive victory.
Asean regional forum
Tillerson, the Secretary of State will be attending the 27 Nation Asean Regional Forum and North Korea will also be represented there by Ri Yong-Ho.
It will be interesting to watch what action the other Southeast Asian countries take against North Korea. Many of them are of the opinion that war is not an option and they would like diplomacy to be the tool to go ahead.
South Korea cannot toe the U.S. line of attacking the North because it will lose terribly and millions of its citizens will be killed. President Moon has already indicated that he is willing to talk to North Korea. In the ultimate analysis, there is very slim hope that North Korea will suspend its nuclear and missile program.
Reality
The world may have to come to reality and accept North Korea as a nuclear power. One should not forget that a similar scenario was played out in 1962 when China went nuclear, yet the USA accepted China as a nuclear power so why not North Korea?
