Today, In Beijing, A summit to resolve dispute over the North's nuclear program is going on. I am a Chinese. In fact, Most Chinese neither support U.S.A. nor support Korea. Because China is ally of North and economic partner of America. What kind of view do you have to the problem?
my main problem with north korea is that its main goal is still the takeover of south korea. i want the talks to be positive, but i fear they will never mean anything unless the north fundamentally changes its mentality. do the chinese feel that the americans will invade the north if they continue developing nuclear weapons?
In China, most of people including me don't think that America invade the North. Because America is being troubled by Iraq. In fact, we hope not to see that America invade North. If America invades North, China will be in pretty awkward position.
i just feel bad for the North Korean people... those people deserve a better fate than to be caught between a militarist totalitarian dictatorship and the wrath of the western world. besides living in one of those African hellholes (Rwanda, Congo, etc.), there is literally nowhere else i rather not be. let's see: Africa - AIDS, genocide, famine, Ebola, Malaria, war N.Korea - famine, economic collapse, isolationism, totalitarianism, militarism, potential nuclear armageddon Gosh, I frankly can't be sure whether it is worse to be persecuted by Mother Nature or by fellow human beings. Sure sucks to be them!
The only positive sign is that NK punks can be negotiated with. They are only after money and security. We can offer them a non-aggression pact, but the money portion should be footed by SK, Japan and China.
America is hoping China can solve the problem by putting pressure on North Korea. We would rather not have to attack North Korea for many reasons. Do you think China can do anything about it?
I'd love to hear more about the Chinese view of this. Why hasn't China been more aggressive with North Korea? I don't think the US will invade because we are afraid of China. Not that we're afraid we'd lose a war to China but that such a conflict would hurt too much. We'd much rather pick on little guys who can't even reach American soil. But, I get the feeling that a lot of Americans don't understand why China doesn't do more to keep nukes out of Korea.
that prospect scares the sh*t out of me. Assassinating KJI bears too great a risk. Waging war bears too great a cost. America will probably do neither. The most likely outcome of this recent round of talks is probably Russia and China will pay North Korea billions of dollars, and provide it with oil and power. Then America, Japan, and South Korea will compensate Russia and China for it. It is the only way the Bush Administration can avoid appearing like we're bowing to nuclear blackmail, which history tells us will most likely be the case anyway... It seems like the only way out in the long term is for North and South to unify under a transitional regime acceptable to both sides.
I am sure China and Russia will both force North Korea to give up nuclear weapons plan. Because any country among six will not get any benefit from the Notrh's nuclear weapens plan.
The fact that China supports North Korea says volumes about the Chinese leadership. North Korea is the most vile police state in the world, which is starving its people of food and information. The Chinese people should be OUTRAGED that their Asian brothers are suffering because the Chinese Government has propped up Kim. Kim needs to die, and China needs to help make this goal a reality.
ashinningpig, Aside from opposing totalitarian regimes, the reason the US has reached a boiling point with Kim Il Jong, is that he made a deal with then president Clinton to curtail his weapons program in exchange for humanitarian aid. I believe the amount was around 4 billion dollars. Now that that money is long gone and his country is still a social disaster he is reneging on the deal, cranking up his nuclear weapons program to extort more aid from the US. We negotiated a deal, he agreed, and now he is not keeping his part of the bargain. I for one believe his tactics are childish and obviousand, I don't think he would ever export nuclear weapons to terrorist as it would assure his own annihilation. However his threats and brinksmanship can not be ignored, by the US or by his neighbors who would surley be effected . (my statement has nuances that could require a deep understanding of American English. Let me know if you would like any clarifications)
I'm not so sure. Every single piece of military hardware developed/stolen by NK is exported for sale elsewhere, every single one. I don't think they'd deal directly with terrorists, but they have a long-standing relationship with Syria and Iran, and we know how cozy those guys are with terrorist types.
I'm not sure who broke the deal first. North Korea was supposed to freeze their nuclear projects and allow inspections but the US was supposed to build some light-water reactors for them (well, South Korea and Japan would construct them; the US would provide oil until they were done). The North Koreans wouldn't allow inspections until some progress was made on the promised reactors; the US, Korea and Japan wouldn't start construction until an inspection was allowed. It seems to me that the agreement never even got off the ground, so I don't know if anyone has really broken any promises at all. from http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/korea_bush010606.html
I don't think either side abided by the previous agreement. All I know is that they need to solve the problem this time. If China wanted to end the NK regime, I'm sure they could. However, it would probably cause a massive refugee problem. Who is going to feed 20 million people and rebuild their country? I don't think SK is capable of absorbing so many people. And China probably doesn't want to pay for the cost to rebuild their version of Iraq. If the status quo is continued, the US will be kept busy and won't interfere with China's Taiwan plans. But those NKoreans sure is stubborn. They can see that their southern brothers are doing well, the Russians and the Chinese have changed dramatically from their communist roots. Yet the NK leadership are selfish bums who don't care about the welfare of their people. In the end, we'll probably have to contribute manpower and money to solve this issue.
this is true. neither side kept to the agreement. This is the problem. The Chinese cannot end of the NK regime. Nobody can. Kim Jong Il will go independent of Beijing before he'll relinquish his power. That will be disastrous, since with China will go the last vestige of foreign influence on that regime. i wouldn't be so quick to say that. i've a ton of respect of South Koreans, and it is their national dream to reunify. They are fanatical about it, and will sacrifice just about anything to make it work. i bet you they would never turn down the first chance they get, regardless of how hard it may be. China will never invade N. Korea. China is North Korea's ONLY ally, and I'll bet that they'll rather stand by and accept North Korea's possession of nuclear arms rather than wage war on them. Just as in the case of America and Israel. If someone needs to go in there and take those nukes out, it needs to be someone other than China. you can't really blame their people. they live in a totalitarian regime. i once had a class in college examining their regime and education system. it's scary how complete and effective that regime is in terms of ideological and nationalist indoctrination. if we give you twenty years in that system, you'll probably be singing praises of KJI too... Hardships? it's all in the name of proud national self-reliance! Poverty? it's so our great leader KJI can lead our people to glorious reunification! Starvation? it's all the Western Imperialists fault! Here in the West we'd laugh at these slogans, but these people actually HAVE TO BELIEVE THEM! unfortunate, but true. kiss another couple billions of our hard-earned tax dollars goodbye.
Aug. 28, 2003, 1:46PM N. Korea stuns meeting with plan for nuke test Associated Press WASHINGTON -- North Korea startled a six-nation conference on East Asian security by announcing its intentions to formally declare its possession of nuclear weapons and to carry out a nuclear test, an administration official said today. North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il also told the gathering in Beijing that his country has the means to deliver nuclear weapons, an apparent reference to the North's highly developed missile program. The comments cast a pall over today's plenary session, which included representatives of the United States, South Korea, China, Japan and Russia, in addition to North Korea. James Kelly, the chief U.S. delegate, demanded that North Korea engage in the verifiable and permanent dismantling of its nuclear weapons programs, in return for which the United States would provide security guarantees and economic benefits. The administration official, asking not to be identified, said that when Russia and Japan attempted to point out some positive elements of the U.S. presentation, the North Korean delegate attacked them by name and said they were lying at the instruction of the United States. According to the administration official, China's delegate appeared visibly angry over Kim's statement but responded in a moderate tone. Kim said his country was maintaining this position because the United States clearly had no intention of abandoning its hostile policy toward North Korea, the U.S. official said. Wie Sung-rak, director-general of the South Korean Foreign Ministry's North American Affairs Bureau, injected a positive note, saying in Beijing that another round of talks probably will be held after the current round ends on Friday. The United States has long believed that North Korea has at least one or two nuclear weapons and could have five or six within a matter of months. The administration had hoped that broad international pressure on North Korea would encourage Pyongyang to curb its nuclear ambitions. With the exception of North Korea itself, all the delegates to the Beijing talks oppose Pyongyang's weapons program. But North Korea, based on Kim's reported comments, seemed unfazed by the opposition to its policies. Chief among the Bush administration's concerns is that a nuclear-armed North Korea would be able to export nuclear weapons or technology or would touch off an arms race in Northeast Asia. In the face of U.S. demands that North Korea permit the verification of any commitment to disarm, Kim rejected inspections of any kind, the U.S. official said. The official added that North Korea's presentation at today's session essentially reaffirmed what a Pyongyang delegate had told Kelly privately during a three-way meeting last April in Beijing. At the time, Kelly was told that North Korea not only possessed nuclear weapons -- a first-time disclosure -- but also was prepared to test or to transfer them. The official added that Kim denied Thursday that the North has been developing a uranium-based nuclear weapon. The Bush administration has said that North Korea acknowledged such a program during talks in Pyongyang in October 2002. Return to top
Completely predictable move by North Korea to come in, make a statement that they want a nuclear-free peninsula, and then proceed to drop a bombshell halfway through the talks about how they are wanting to declare themselves a nuclear nation, test a nuclear weapon, and has the means to deliver them. Gotta love those North Korean delegations.
These guys have no diplomacy skills. Doing this in the middle of the meeting is a slap in China and Russia's face. All this accomplishes is increase the tension and ruin any plans for making an agreement in the near future. Maybe James Bond and Halle Berry could destroy their Nuke program.
Well, it might just be time to play the ol' trump card...if NK goes nuclear, and China is unwilling to stop them, it will be made very clear to China that Japan has no choice but to become a nuclear power. This is China's absolute worst nightmare, and something they will not allow to happen.
The fact that China supports North Korea says volumes about the Chinese leadership. North Korea is the most vile police state in the world, which is starving its people of food and information. I dunno... We also have and do support a number of sketchy / crappy states & leaders. China supports NK for a number of reasons - partially to keep Democracy & American influence away from its nearest border. I'm not sure if that's better or worse than supporting dictators because they supply oil. That said - they have absolutely no interest in a nuclear NK either. They just handle relations with them differently - very behind-the-scenes to keep NK from losing face.
