Quote (Ghot @ Aug 28 2018 08:42am)
You're preaching to the choir on this issue. I don't trust NK at all, but I still think China is just using NK as a pawn in China's global strategy.
of course they are, but u always stop one step short of the real picture.
China is using NK as a deterrent to their negative behavior and to scare their regional rivals (SK and Japan), and secretly providing them with supplies in violation of the sanctions.
NK is exploiting this, as they have with regimes that need a wary ally for decades. First with the Soviets, perhaps with Iran even, now it's China. It was China before, but they bit the hand that feeds them.
NK is fine with being a pawn, because they can and have many times spurned their masters. they are not a pawn in truth, but rather a tool.
NK's nuclear program is a deterrent to outward aggression, and will remain regardless of a tenuous backwater alliance with China. it's their only card and they play it in all scenarios.
all too often you paint China as some boogeyman who is in control of NK, when they're more like a dog walker with a 50 foot lead. NK is also exploiting china, because a collapse of NK means refugees pouring into China and China doesn't want that. A southern invasion by SK or the USA also means refugees into China. basically any destabilizing event means hundreds of thousands or even millions of non-chinese speaking low skill refugees pouring into china. this side of the coin can not be left out of the equation. china is exploiting this and always has been, in fact their exploitation of this in most people's opinion is more motivation for China to aid them than agitating their rivals. China isn't exactly terrified of their rivals nor their gripes, and they shouldn't be. the aid they provide is really just subsidizing the issue to avoid refugees. they're happy with the political outcomes that a sabre rattling NK gives them, but its always been about refugees and general destabilization in the region, which is a NK exploitation more than anything.