From The Age:
China will no longer risk damaging ties with its traditional ally North Korea by pushing it to scrap its nuclear weapons program, an International Crisis Group report says.
This implies that six-party efforts for a negotiated end to North Korea’s nuclear program will not be fruitful in the near future, given Pyongyang’s insistence on direct talks with the US and China’s role as North Korea’s most important source of economic and diplomatic support… ”China prioritises stability over denuclearisation due to a vastly different perception than the US and its allies of the threat posed by a nuclear North Korea,” says the report, Shades of Red: China’s Debate over North Korea.
”Beijing’s largest worries are the possibility of military confrontation between North Korea and the US, regime implosion, a flood of North Korean refugees into China, or precipitous reunification with South Korea leading to a US military presence north of the 38th parallel,” it says.
See also past CDT posts on North Korea relations.
