Blood runs thin in 'Blood Alliance'

Ryu Ji-yong is a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.

By Ryu Ji-yong

Many people just take it for granted that China and North Korea have a ‘blood alliance’ and that China has always ‘protected’ North Korea like a little brother. Although China has become ever more concerned over how to handle its perverse little brother over the years, many people suspect that the two will always stick together in the end due to their geographic and strategic importance to each other. However, we all know the saying “nothing lasts forever,” and this long-standing relationship between China and North Korea is not an exception. A look into how Sino-North Korean relations developed as both territories were transitioning into modern states will provide interesting insight into the truth of the above claim.

The point is that they became a “blood alliance,” and the reason why it is a good starting point. The “blood alliance” between the two countries can be said to have been forged once China sent its armed forces to the Korean Peninsula during the Korean War, suffering an estimated one million casualties as a result. Most noteworthy is the fact that Mao Zedong’s oldest son was killed in one of the air raids conducted by the U.S. in the war. The Chinese, in fact, still call the Korean war “The War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.” Mao insisted that the tomb of his son should be on North Korean soil, and the tomb has been considered the sacred place where the “blood alliance” between North Korea and China was first forged.

Why did China in 1950 send such a great number of armed forces to Korea? Was North Korea so important to China at that time? Historical records showed that it was an excessively difficult decision for China—a decision that China originally wished to evade. But it went ahead with the alliance, for reasons that are not so simple to understand. Of course, North Korea was geographically and strategically important to China since, after all, it shares a border with China. But in fact, China shares its border with 13 other countries as well.

Perhaps more weight should go to the ideological bonds of solidarity as well as to the long arduous ordeals both Kim Il-sung and Mao each had to go through before they could successfully establish their nations in the late 1940s. Kim Il-sung’s Communist party, first established in 1948, substantially helped Mao in Manchuria against the Kuomintang, despite the hardships and instability of Kim’s party at the time. It is noteworthy to state that the personal ties and strong feelings of solidarity between the two leaders played a critical role behind Mao’s later decision to dispatch troops — including even his own son — during the Korean War, not to mention the fact that both countries were run by authoritarian communist parties. After the armistice agreement in 1953, Kim Il-sung paid a visit to China to extend his heartfelt gratitude. He did not go back home empty -handed, taking with him promises of financial aids from China.

However, as the pro-Chinese and pro-Soviet Union factions inside North Korea tried to weaken Kim Il-sung’s position as an autocrat, and as the Chinese party interfered with North Korean politics for the sake of the pro-Chinese factions, Kim Il-sung got furious and systematically cleaned up those factions entirely from the political arena. From that time on, there was no possibility for China to exert any influence in North Korean politics. There were opportunities for China and North Korea to sign a treaty after the armistice, but the treaty was indefinitely postponed. However, when Japan and the U.S. signed a security treaty in 1960, and a strong anti-communist government in South Korea emerged in 1961, China and North Korea responded by signing the DPRK-PRC Friendship Treaty in 1961. Article 2 of the treaty declares that the two nations will guarantee to immediately adopt any necessary measures to oppose any country or coalition of countries that might attack either nation. This is the foundation of the assumption of a “blood alliance” between the two countries till now.

For some time, there had been ups and downs in the Sino-NK relationship, including border disputes, but things started to steadily deteriorate between China and the DPRK after the détente between the US and China in 1972. The “blood alliance” suffered an even harsher blow in 1992, when relations between South Korea and China were normalized. These new relations caused the “blood alliance” enough damage to halt any state’s visit for 9 consecutive years. It was recorded that Kim Jung-il did not hesitate to express his loathing for China as an untrustworthy actor on many occasions. But the sharp economic downturn North Korea has been dealing with for over a decade now, has forced it to depend on China for oil and food. China has also blamed North Korea for the nuclear crises and tests it initiated, and supported the sanctions called for by the UN Security Council.

However, China’s attitude during the combined US-ROK forces exercise after the Cheonan battleship sinking incident showed that China can exploit North Korea as strategic card. These days, a lot of Chinese communist party officials have mentioned in public that China and North Korea are not allies. They argue that the terms of 1961 treaty are no longer applicable, and therefore only nominal. This has never been more true than now, when North Korea has come under the rule of yet another Kim, and along with him, a third nuclear test. China, as we have seen, has been less conniving and more admonishing in its behavior towards the DPRK.

What will become of Sino-North Korea relations? No one knows for sure, but what is sure is that China will utilize North Korea as a strategic card for its own national interests, and North Korea will try to use China in kind whenever it deems necessary.