General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I'm going to be in the minority here re NK but... [View all]Rustyeye77
(2,736 posts)Yet the former oil executive had little new to offer on the policy front. We look to China to fulfil its obligations, he said. Like his predecessors, Tillerson appears to think that if only he can enlist Beijings support, then US-backed economic sanctions can compel Kim to give up his nuclear arsenal.
This approach is no more likely to succeed now than at any other time since the mid-1990s, when Kims father first began launching missiles in the direction of Japan.
In North Koreas game of chicken with Malaysia over hostages, who will blink first?p
Firstly, it is doubtful how much diplomatic influence Beijing really wields in Pyongyang. Certainly North Korea is not the obedient client state of China that US President Donald Trumps campaign statements allege. Kim has yet to make an official visit as North Koreas leader to Beijing, and has never met Chinas President Xi Jinping (習近平 .
Nor does Kim have much incentive to heed Chinese calls to halt his weapons programme. To the North Korean leader, nuclear missiles are the one guarantee of his regimes security in a hostile world. Giving them up would be political suicide.
http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2079968/real-reason-china-wont-exert-economic-pressure-north-korea