U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at North Korea and china this week after satellite images showed definitive evidence that despite sanctions, China was still supplying Kim Jong Un's regime with oil. After a recent tour to Asia where Trump was promised by Chinese President Xi that they would work together to solve the Korea crisis, Trump feels that he was outright lied to.

The already provocative and boisterous president took to Twitter to share his frustration. Claiming that he would "do what he had always wanted to do," many are again speculating that war is imminent.

Sanctions have long been the policy of the United States in dealing with North Korea. However, this continued skirting of the sanctions is increasingly angering Trump and the result could be a military intervention.

Why would China help North Korea?

There are numerous reasons why China would help North Korea, even if they aren't true allies. The first major reason is geography. The two countries share a sizeable land border. Any major military conflict is sure to send millions of refugees across the border into China. Although they would have the ability to take these people in, it is not a priority of the Chinese government.

Another major reason is their own security. They came to the North's aid in the last Korean War, not so much to help Kim Jon Sung, but rather to counter the U.S.

Had the North lost the war completely, the Chinese would have a major U.S. ally now sharing that same land border. Having North Korea as a buffer has always been the goal of allowing them to exist.

There is some economic benefit to being the major supplier to the reclusive nation. However, it is hard to track just how much business would be lost if they truly did cut all ties with North Korea.

Is war on the horizon?

The biggest question that everyone has been asking is if war is really imminent? Talking heads have been debating it incessantly since Trump took office but it doesn't appear that we are any closer now to war than we were a year ago.

The last several missile tests have pushed tensions to the brink, but the North has backed off of them recently.

It is unclear whether that is because they are still in preparation for the next test, or if they are finally willing to make some concessions ahead of negotiating.

The likelihood is that tensions will continue to escalate. It will ultimately take more than being caught skirting sanctions, like they have been a million times, to really push the U.S. into a military reaction.
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