China is very likely to move to sanction North Korea if the latter goes ahead with its missile launch, an influential U.S. expert on North Korea said.
Scott Snyder, director of the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy of Asia Foundation, said if North Korea decides to fire the missile despite the international opposition, China will perceive it as “influencing a critical national interest,” and is likely to impose sanctions on Pyongyang to send a “message” of warning to it, RFA reported Friday.
However, Snyder predicted the Chinese sanction wont’ be severe. “It's not going to be a sustained sanction regime,” he said.
The Chinese leadership is quietly working hard to prevent the North’s missile launch. For example, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei visited Pyongyang last week.
It is not immediately clear whether China, perceived as having the most influence on North Korea than any other countries, will be able to deter North Korea’s planned act.
Kim Myung-gil, a North Korean representative to the United Nations, said Thursday in a forum held in Atlanta that North Korea would launch a “satellite” as planned.
If the North goes ahead with the missile launch, a U.N. sanction appears inevitable. Snyder noted that he sees that China will join the sanction as long as it is not something harsh.
China also reportedly told Snyder that even if it is the closet ideological ally to North Korea, but business is business. “If we have any action to take toward North Korea, we would immediately carry it out without giving a prior notice to it,” a Chinese diplomat reportedly told Snyder.