Opinion | Opinion: Fraying of ties with China should be Kim Jong-un’s greatest worry as US ratchets up war talk
Adam Cathcart writes that China’s support or tacit acceptance of the North Korean regime continues to erode, possibly bringing further eruptions
Another week has passed with yet more Korean war talk from the upper echelons in Washington. After undercutting US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on conditions for negotiating with North Korea, the White House renewed its emphasis on “the military option” via public statements by National Security Adviser HR McMaster and further rumours that the administration was considering using a “bloody nose” approach consisting of limited attacks on North Korean testing sites.
The response of North Korea’s leadership and diplomats to these statements was eminently predictable: they will continue to criticise the Americans, Japanese and South Koreans as irredeemable warmongers, and continue developing the reclusive state’s intercontinental nuclear deterrent and second-strike capability with all haste.
But should the North Koreans actually be more worried about China?
In recent days, Beijing has seemed to encourage official and semi-official discourse about preparations for war on the Korean peninsula. The limited leaking of a discussion of plans for an exodus of North Koreans into Changbai county was another alarm-stoking element for Pyongyang. Perhaps most shocking from North Korea’s standpoint was seeing a report that US-China discussions on contingency planning were taking place, previously a no-go zone for the Chinese government.
