By Sunny Lee
BEIJING ― China will join the United Nations to punish North Korea for conducting a third nuclear test, even if doing so damages the Beijing-Pyongyang relationship in the short term, China's leading experts on the North said Tuesday.
"China's options are very clear. We will cooperate with South Korea, the U.S., Russia and other members of the U.N. to come up with punitive measures against Pyongyang," Liu Ming, director of the Center for Korea Studies at the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told The Korea Times.
Lu Chao, a Chinese expert on North Korea at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, located near the North Korean border, agreed: "China's foreign ministry already said that Beijing resolutely opposed the nuclear test. Under the current circumstance, it will join the U.N. to slap stricter economic sanctions against the North. There is no other way."
The Chinese experts remarks were in response to North Korea's announcement Tuesday that it had successfully conducted its third nuclear test, as carried by the official North Korean Central News Agency.
China is still celebrating its week-long Spring Festival, the nation's biggest annual holiday when schools and government offices remain shut. But in the late afternoon, the Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement posted on its website.
After the test, a ranking South Korean embassy official visited the Chinese foreign ministry to discuss the matter, said an embassy staffer, who declined to give his identity. Yonhap News said the Chinese foreign ministry summoned a North Korean embassy official Tuesday, to lodge protest.
China is North Korea's only real ally and is widely seen as the only country with any leverage over Pyongyang. However, it has long been blamed by the international community for "shielding" the North despite the latter's various belligerent acts, because Beijing perceives Pyongyang as a useful "buffer zone" against the U.S. and its allies a mentality that goes back to the Cold War.
Yet observers say that this time, Beijing's patience may be wearing thin, because the rift between the two states has deepened over the nuclear test.
"North Korea's behavior endangers the stability in East Asia and also poses a grave security threat to China. In this case, China should send a clear signal that it objects Pyongyang's act," said Lu.
Liu in Shanghai argued that China has no way of resisting the international call for taking tougher measures against Pyongyang. "It's unavoidable. In this situation, some measures have to be adopted even if it harms China-North Korean relations."
China's state-controlled media usually characterizes the Sino-North Korean relationship as "chuantong youhao guanxi," which means "traditional friendly ties." But this time, Pyongyang apparently offended its traditional ally. "This is not an act that a country with friendly ties does to another. This is North Korea's crazy maneuver," said Lu.
He said it's time for ties between Beijing and Pyongyang to be "normalized." When asked for clarification of the term, he said: "A normal state-to-state relationship should be based on equality and mutual benefit. This is also the international practice. It also means that we have to have a certain principle in our ties with North Korea. I hope China's response of joining international sanctions will help normalize Sino-North Korean relations."
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| Xi Jinping |
"China's options are very clear. We will cooperate with South Korea, the U.S., Russia and other members of the U.N. to come up with punitive measures against Pyongyang," Liu Ming, director of the Center for Korea Studies at the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told The Korea Times.
Lu Chao, a Chinese expert on North Korea at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, located near the North Korean border, agreed: "China's foreign ministry already said that Beijing resolutely opposed the nuclear test. Under the current circumstance, it will join the U.N. to slap stricter economic sanctions against the North. There is no other way."
The Chinese experts remarks were in response to North Korea's announcement Tuesday that it had successfully conducted its third nuclear test, as carried by the official North Korean Central News Agency.
China is still celebrating its week-long Spring Festival, the nation's biggest annual holiday when schools and government offices remain shut. But in the late afternoon, the Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement posted on its website.
After the test, a ranking South Korean embassy official visited the Chinese foreign ministry to discuss the matter, said an embassy staffer, who declined to give his identity. Yonhap News said the Chinese foreign ministry summoned a North Korean embassy official Tuesday, to lodge protest.
China is North Korea's only real ally and is widely seen as the only country with any leverage over Pyongyang. However, it has long been blamed by the international community for "shielding" the North despite the latter's various belligerent acts, because Beijing perceives Pyongyang as a useful "buffer zone" against the U.S. and its allies a mentality that goes back to the Cold War.
Yet observers say that this time, Beijing's patience may be wearing thin, because the rift between the two states has deepened over the nuclear test.
"North Korea's behavior endangers the stability in East Asia and also poses a grave security threat to China. In this case, China should send a clear signal that it objects Pyongyang's act," said Lu.
Liu in Shanghai argued that China has no way of resisting the international call for taking tougher measures against Pyongyang. "It's unavoidable. In this situation, some measures have to be adopted even if it harms China-North Korean relations."
China's state-controlled media usually characterizes the Sino-North Korean relationship as "chuantong youhao guanxi," which means "traditional friendly ties." But this time, Pyongyang apparently offended its traditional ally. "This is not an act that a country with friendly ties does to another. This is North Korea's crazy maneuver," said Lu.
He said it's time for ties between Beijing and Pyongyang to be "normalized." When asked for clarification of the term, he said: "A normal state-to-state relationship should be based on equality and mutual benefit. This is also the international practice. It also means that we have to have a certain principle in our ties with North Korea. I hope China's response of joining international sanctions will help normalize Sino-North Korean relations."
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