Waiting for the Chinese Smackdown on North Korea

 

China and North Korea 

It's going to happen soon. China is going to rein in  its "Mini-Me",,North Korea.  The storm clouds are brewing, and I predict that next week will tell the tale.  Traditionally, China has sat on the sidelines and just watched tensions between North Korea and the United States, but as North Korea's young dictator, Kim Jong Un, gets whackier and whackier, China seems to be shifting its position.  In actuality, it has little choice. The new North Korean regime is so unpredictable and dysfunctional that putting it in a straight jacket or destroying it altogether may be the only logical possibilities for China.

Where China is concerned, Kim Jong Un  has made some bad mistakes. Since coming to power after his father's death last year, he has failed to pay proper respect to China (especially stupid in the part of the world that invented the concept of " saving face"). Most importantly, it's dumb to ignore the country which provides you with food, fuel, and the parental protection of a bigger, stronger Communist power.... talk about biting the hand that feeds you ! Now, having taken his bellicose outbursts to a new level that really begs for intervention from the West, Baby Kim is just asking for trouble with China, the United States and EU.

Why China Doesn't Want War in Korea

The last thing China wants is for North Korea to go to war ,or for the United States to get more involved militarily in Asia. In addition, with its own domestic troubles China certainly doesn't need waves of North Korean refugees pouring across its borders. It also fears a re-united Korea with the South in the saddle.

So, the winds of change are blowing in Beijing, and Baby Kim better wake up and smell the coffee or he is going to get himself, and possibly his whole nation ,bunker busted back to the stone age. Unfortunately, he probably won't stop, as he is young, callow and responding to immediate domestic concerns. He is on a collision course with China and the West.  Looks to me like China is doing a rapid about-face.

For starters, Secretary of State, John Kerry has stopped off in China this week-end, on his way home form a well publicized visit to South Korea. While in Seoul, he pointedly announced in no uncertain terms, that the United States will protect its allies in case of nuclear attack from North Korea.  It has also been reported( though not officially confirmed) that last week China was massing troops at its North Korean border. In the end, my money is on a pincer movement between China and the United States working together to snuff out the crazy one way or another.

Listen up, Baby Kim and start behaving, or China may have to spank you with Uncle Sam standing by.

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