By Kang Hyun-kyung
“Great power involves great responsibility.”
An increasing number of governments are urging China, the world’s second largest economy and decades-long benefactor of North Korea, to use its influence over its troubled neighbor which has committed yet another brutal act of late.
Despite the mounting international pressure, however, China has been refusing to heed the voices for fear of catastrophic consequences on the Korean Peninsula.
Now, Beijing is reaping what it has sown in its decades-old risk-averse approach to Pyongyang, as its lopsided “lips-and-teeth” relationship has sparked a storm of strong criticism here and abroad.
Nine out of 10 South Koreans showed displeasure with China’s response to North Korea’s artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island, according to a latest survey conducted by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
A group of 1,000 conservative activists from the Korea Freedom Federation (KFF) staged protests near the Chinese Embassy in Seoul to protest the country’s “do-nothing” policy toward the North.
“China is helping North Korea, which is responsible for the barrage of shells last week, by playing a patron-like role,” a conservative activist said.
In an interview with CNN, Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, called on China to take a stronger stand against North Korea. “It’s hard to know why China doesn’t push harder.”
Daniel Blumenthal, resident fellow of the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI), noted that China is responsible for its ally North Korea.
“Beijing could bring Pyongyang to its knees if it wanted to,” he said in an email interview with The Korea Times.
Blumenthal said China’s absence of policy on the North’s provocations was a reflection of its worries over a possible catastrophic situation on the peninsula.
“China is increasingly worried that South Korea and the United States will not tolerate and may retaliate against North Korean aggression,” he said.
The China watcher was skeptical about Beijing’s proposal for resuming dialogue, calling on Seoul and Washington to consider a fundamental approach for reunification.
“The policy should be a long-term regime change and unification. In the short term, the United States and South Korea should take measures that erode North Korean capabilities to project any power beyond its borders.”
His comments came days after China’s chief nuclear negotiator Wu Dawei proposed six-party talks to discuss North Korea’s nuclear program.
Wu’s proposal recalled China’s priority on stability on the Korean Peninsula and the resumption of dialogue as key to that stability.
When it comes to the country’s role in persuading the North to play by the rules, there are two schools of thought.
One school says Beijing has large influence over Pyongyang as it provides or facilitates virtually all the foreign goods needed to sustain the state and its elite. Nonetheless, China has refused to use this.
Others say China’s hands are tied and claim that it is frustrated over its inability to rein in the volatile North over the past years, especially after the latter’s first underground nuclear test in 2006.
Amid the frustration, leaked memos released by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks found that China’s irritation with North Korea has grown.
According to a leaked document, China’s vice foreign minister told U.S. officials that Pyongyang was behaving like “a spoiled child” to get Washington’s attention last year by carrying out missile tests.