From the Asia Times Online:
North Korea seems to be playing the China card for all it’s worth – in multi-billions in aid and investment – to overcome United Nations sanctions and pressure for Pyongyang to get rid of its nuclear program.
A report in South Korea about China investing US$10 billion in North Korea’s dilapidated economy has analysts worrying that such a deal could negate the impact of promises of that much money in energy aid as a reward for North Korea giving up its nukes… The sincerity of China’s avowed desire for North Korea to return to six-party talks, though, is increasingly open to question. WhileNorth Korea turns to China for relief from economic collapse,China in turn seems to be playing the North Korean card against the US, South Korea and Japan at a time when their always shaky relations are more strained than ever.
Might China’s deal with North Korea scuttle the “grand bargain” that South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak is proposing? “Only in dismantling the core component” of its nuclear program, said Han, would North Korea get the aid it needed. “Without Pyongyang’s concrete denuclearization measures,” he made clear, “sanctions will continue”.
