FOX News: Russia, China are North Korea's 'enablers,' Tillerson says
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson lashed out at Russia and China early Saturday, following North Korea’s second test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile – and reports that Kim Jong Un’s regime was now capable of striking cities on the U.S. mainland.
Tillerson labeled the two U.S. rivals the “principal economic enablers” of North Korea’s weapons programs, and called on them to ramp up efforts to curb the growing nuclear threat from Pyongyang.
“All nations should take a strong public stance against North Korea by maintaining and strengthening U.N. sanctions to ensure North Korea will face consequences for its relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them,” Tillerson said.
China has reportedly pressed North Korea to abide by all relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions and cease any actions that could escalate tensions.
Read more ....
Update #1: Rex Tillerson targets Russia and China for being 'enablers' of North Korea's ballistic missile launch (Washington Examiner)
WNU Editor: U.S. Secretary of state Tillerson is right .... China and Russia are enabling North Korea whether they deny it or not. I should also add that it is when I read stories like this one that I have to wonder if the leaders of Russia and China are stupid. In the case of China .... they enjoy a $400 billion trade surplus with the U.S., and it is because of this trade imbalance that China is able to prosper. More to the point ... the children of China's political elite go to the U.S. to study, their investments are going to the U.S., their vacations are now in the U.S., and if China wants peace with their neighbours because of border disputes, they will be needing the U.S. on board to minimise any tensions that may explode. So why does China want to jeopardise all of this for a country that is run by a despotic dictator that provides only a few billion dollars in business with China .... and I am willing to bet that this trade is spotty at best ... is beyond me. Are they doing this (and risking everything) because of history, to stick it to the U.S., and is there another agenda at play .... as I said .... on the surface this is stupid, and when I ask my Chinese friends why .... to be frank .... they do not know what to say.
Update 2: Yup .... U.S. allies have also not been helpful .... How America's Friends Aid North Korea's Missile Program (Anthony Ruggiero, National Interest).
One cannot help but draw comparisons to the Cuban Missile Crisis. We are certainly not there, not yet. But that could change.
ReplyDeleteAs for why China is allowing this to continue, well... they may see North Korea as a viable bargaining chip that they can possibly 'trade' in the near future.
China seems confident that there is little the US can do, with out sparking another Global Economic Collapse,
ReplyDeleteThat China and the Government of China, due to it's unique economic position, would weather quite well, but the US would not.
lol, china would collapse without the USA as a trade partner. the USA would be just fine w/out china
ReplyDeleteChinese poster's online are not talking about the political divide in China requiring a Civil War to resolve.
DeleteUS Poster's mention a Civil War being required from time to time.
I do not think the Chinese are stupI'd. They need north Korea as a buffer state because otherwise the US will have troops right at their border in yet another country (a unified Korea). This is far more importantfor their national interest, than even a great surplus of 40 billions.
ReplyDeleteIt is as Jay mentions not easy for the US to make serious moves agains China without hurting their own economy severy.
Anon.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a family (i.e. Russian family) where for years/decades I heard from my father and his friends/colleagues/etc. on the need to keep Germany split for security reasons. What my father learned later on is that you cannot keep a people who are cultural/linguistically/and historically the same separate for long. The Chinese want the Korean Peninsula split for the same reason my the Soviet Union wanted Germany split .... the Germans had a different idea, and I can assure you the Koreans also have a different take opinion. It is part of the human condition. Similar people want to be together.
As for the economic impact of a US - China conflict .... long term readers of this blog know that I have a long history with China .... living and working there in the 1980s.
In the summer of 1988 I stayed in the city of Qunazhou, Fujian province. I was stationed there to see what economic prospects were available, and to build contacts. And what did I see. After 5-6 years of economic reforms pushed by Deng Xiaoping .... outside the city there was only a small Nike factory and a large stone quarry shipping stone to Japan, Hong Kong, and elsewhere. After 5-6 years of promotion nothing. The promised boom did not materialise. The promised jobs never materialised. But what was in the air was unrest and frustration .... that in the end resulted in the Tiananmen Square massacre a year later. To put it lightly .... China's policy of a made in China economic solution was a failure.
When the Soviet Union collapsed and my contract at the United Nations ICAO branch was finished (this was in the early 1990s) I was invited by my friends in Quanzhou to come back to see if we can do some business. I accepted. And what did I see .... nothing had changed, but .... and this is a BIG BUT, there was definitely change in the air. The Chinese were eager to do business with the West .... specifically with North Americans. For cultural and historical reasons .... the Chinese do not like to work with the Japanese, they distrust the South Koreans, and they find people from Hong Kong too crazy to do anything. They also do not understand the European slow-poke altitude towards everything. When I was there I also met for the first time an American who could not believe the opportunities that he saw .... that American was an executive from Wal Mart. To this day .... because I did not keep his card .... I sometimes wonder if he was one of the founders of Wal Mart.
I went back to Quanzhou about 3 years ago .... invited again by my friends in China. That small running shoe factory is a behemoth that defies the imagination. That quarry now employs thousands of people .... exporting most of their product (polished stone) to North American funeral homes/cemeteries/etc.. There are now literally hundreds (if not thousands) of companies/manufacturers in Fujian working with U.S. partners to develop and manufacture products worldwide. And the formula for this partnership is all the same. The Americans provide scientific and technical skills coupled with their expertise in marketing. The Chinese provide the labour, lax laws, and labour peace. The Chinese own the factories .... the Americans own everything else. This arrangement has brought trillions to the Chinese economy, boosted its economy in 15 years to number two in the world, formed scientific partnerships with U.S. companies and educational institutions of the like that the world has never seen, and more important to China .... it has brought a hundred million (+) jobs AND civil/social peace in China.
In the event of a conflict this partnership will be destroyed .... and the Americans will take their technical and scientific expertise coupled with their markets and their marketing skills elsewhere .... and the Chinese will be stuck with their factories.
Yes .... in such a hypothetical conflict it will not end well for the U.S. but the U.S. will survive. But for the Chinese .... knowing the China that I know .... I shudder on what would happen to that country if that happens.
I think most countries would be fine if China just annexed North Korea...problem solved.
ReplyDeleteWNU,
ReplyDeleteI 100% agree with you and there is more: in case China would be in conflict with US, All the European countries (NATO) will stop their business with China. And it would be a economically disaster and more: a social one. That's the Communist party want to avoid first.