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You do realize you are massively exaggerating on the subject of China, yes? Legolas Send a noteboard - 13/03/2013 06:15:32 AM

View original postBecause YOU are right that a nuclear North Korea is at least as much a threat to China as to anyone else. Part of the subtext in all this is that Chinas proximity as much as our militarys made North Korea their de facto satellite, but nuclear weapons could change that. The Kims (or whoever calls the shots there) had little choice but to do as China told them so long as they had the PLA looking over their shoulder, but intermediate range nuclear missiles deter Chinese invasion at least as much as an American one. A truly rogue nuclear North Korea is a huge threat to China as well as to South Korea and Japan; the difference is China can do something about it.

If the history of China shows us one thing, that one thing is very clearly that foreign policy is always subordinate to the domestic concerns of keeping the population content and well-fed, and that China has historically always been so big that they quite had their hands full with that. Now of course China has become a global player, but foreign policy remains subordinate to domestic even so, and domestic concerns demand that stability and continued export relations with as many countries as possible are given the priority in foreign policy.

China would not be happy, to put it mildly, with an American/South-Korean attack on North-Korea, due to the perceived insult it implies to them and obviously due to the deployment of American troops so close to them. But it's absurd to suppose that they would go to war again on the North-Korean side. They have no interest in isolating themselves diplomatically and, as an inevitable consequence, economically, to such an extent. For the same reason, even if you suppose China would instead take on North-Korea itself, it would not be nearly crazy enough to invade South-Korea in the process. It's one thing to talk tough and demand to be treated with the respect due to a superpower, but quite another to go about attacking neighbours and making themselves look like a dangerous irresponsible state on whom you certainly don't want to rely too much for trade.

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I would like it noted I responded to you before you responded to me. - 09/03/2013 11:40:18 PM 630 Views
Duly noted - 10/03/2013 01:03:59 AM 623 Views
Re: Duly noted - 11/03/2013 06:14:59 PM 564 Views
Re: Duly noted - 11/03/2013 07:05:17 PM 602 Views
Re: Duly noted - 11/03/2013 10:34:36 PM 507 Views
Re: Duly noted - 12/03/2013 02:04:05 AM 593 Views
One word: evacuation. - 10/03/2013 03:22:42 AM 493 Views
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This. Sadly. - 09/03/2013 04:38:13 PM 494 Views
I am beginning to wonder if China might formally annex North Korea, and the implications of that. - 11/03/2013 06:24:28 PM 610 Views
You do realize you are massively exaggerating on the subject of China, yes? - 13/03/2013 06:15:32 AM 583 Views

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