Last weekend, North Korean dictator and inventor of the Chairman Mao high fade Kim Jong-un announced that his military was close to testing a ballistic missile with the capability to reach the United States. The good news is that North Korea isn’t especially successful at testing missiles. However, this is one more step towards developing a nuclear warhead that can reach the US.
Why are we talking about this on China Uncensored? Because on Monday, Donald Trump responded to Kim’s announcement, adding his second favorite country to the mix. Hint: It’s not North Korea.
Nice? Imagine using sarcasm when talking about China. Anyway, it would appear that Trump’s policy directive—as much as I can tell from 140 characters—is that he wants to force the Chinese Communist Party to force North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program. It’s actually something Trump has been pretty consistent about. Here he is on CBS in February, implying that he could get China to possibly assassinate Kim.
But is he a bad enough dude to bomb the US? And can President Trump force China to abandon North Korea using economic pressure? Well, leaving aside the complex economic entanglements between the US and China, here’s the thing: Chinese leader Xi Jinping is already kind of doing that without being forced. At least, he’s been moving China away from decades of close ties with North Korea.
For example, two years after Xi Jinping rose to power, he snubbed North Korea by making an official state visit to South Korea first. In fact, he still hasn’t met with Kim Jong-un. In addition, China supported recent UN sanctions against North Korea, and even helped enforce the international trade embargo. Including investigating a Chinese company that had provided North Korea with uranium-enrichment ingredients.
But before you start thinking, “Wow, Xi Jinping is a great guy. I want him to name my first-born daughter” *cough* Zuckerberg— you should know that his real motivation is, yes, the unending power struggle between Xi Jinping and his toad-like predecessor Jiang Zemin. Yes, it’s time to once again examine the crimes of this dehydrated amphibian. The one who rose to power through the Tiananmen Square Massacre, and sanctioned the widespread murder of prisoners of conscience for their organs.
According to this Radio Free Asia report, Jiang Zemin started giving nuclear material to North Korea back in 1989, after previous Chinese leaders refused to. Allegedly, he wanted to retaliate against the United States and other hostile foreign forces who unfairly criticized the Communist Party for its peaceful handling of students in Tiananmen Square.
So, Jiang Zemin may have helped North Korea build a nuclear weapons program. Even after Jiang Zemin stepped down, his number two guy helped maintain that buddy buddy relationship. Until that guy got purged by Xi Jinping, that is. But not to worry, there’s still the number three guy, and the number four guy. And that Chinese company who sold nuclear materials to North Korea? Looks like it also has ties to officials in Jiang’s faction. Shocking.
So essentially, the future of the China-North Korea relationship is tied to the Chinese Communist Party’s internal power struggle. And as Xi Jinping purges his political enemies, he’s also purging the Sino-North Korea relationship—because his political enemies were the ones who build that relationship.
The Chinese Communist Party is in a tricky situation here. For years, as North Korea’s biggest trading partner and aid giver, they managed to keep the country at a finely tuned level of crazy. Just crazy enough to bother the US and make China look good, while not crazy enough to collapse and cause a massive influx of refugees across China’s border.
But now, as North Korea gets increasingly drunk on the world stage, China is acting like the like the embarrassed college roommate who wants to pretend that they don’t know North Korea, who is a fully grown adult responsible for their own actions.
It’s totally not China’s fault, you guys. But we all know who’s going to have to hold North Korea’s hair as they vomit over the toilet.
So China’s coldness towards North Korea over the last four years is not because of Obama. And it’s unlikely to be reinforced by Trump, either. Especially if Trump’s policies come in Tweets. I mean Twitter is banned in China, so Trump really shouldn’t expect Xi Jinping to read them.
Ok, I guess someone is reading his tweets.
So what do you think? Leave your comments below.
