On this episode of China Uncensored,
can China solve the North Korea nuclear problem?
Hi, welcome to China Uncensored.
I'm Shelley Zhang,
filling in for Chris Chappell,
who's on "vacation" in an undisclosed location
that is nowhere near the People's Republic of China.
Speaking of "people's republics,"
North Korea.
Last weekend,
North Korean dictator and inventor of the Chairman Mao high fade
Kim Jong-un
announced that his military was close to testing
a ballistic missile with the capability
to reach the United States.
The good news
is that North Korea isn't especially successful
at testing missiles.
However,
it is one more step towards developing
a nuclear warhead that can reach the US.
Why are we talking about this on China Uncensored?
Because on Monday,
Donald Trump responded to Kim's announcement,
adding his second favorite country into the mix.
Hint: It's not North Korea.
"China has been taking out massive amounts
of money & wealth from the U.S.
in totally one-sided trade,
but won't help with North Korea.
Nice!"
Nice?
Imagine using sarcasm when talking about China.
Anyway,
it would appear that Trump's policy directive—
as much as I can tell from 140 characters—
is that he wants to force the Chinese Communist Party
to force North Korea to stop
its nuclear weapons program.
It's actually something Trump has been pretty consistent about.
Here he is on CBS in February,
implying that he could get China to possibly assassinate Kim.
"I would get China to make that guy disappear,
in one form or another,
very quickly.
And let me tell you, people say, 'oh'..."
"How do you make him disappear? Assassinate him?
"Let me just tell you.
No.
Well, you know, I've heard of worse things, frankly.
This guy's a bad dude.
And don't underestimate him."
Mmm.
But is he a bad enough dude to bomb the US?
And can President Trump force China
to abandon North Korea
using economic pressure?
Well, leaving aside the complex economic entanglements
between the US and China,
here's the thing:
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is already kind of doing that
without being forced.
At least, he's been moving China away from decades
of close ties with North Korea.
For example,
two years after Xi Jinping rose to power,
he snubbed North Korea
by making an official state visit to South Korea first.
In fact,
he still hasn't met Kim Jong-un.
In addition,
China supported recent UN sanctions
against North Korea,
and even helped enforce the international trade embargo.
Including investigating a Chinese company
that had provided North Korea with uranium-enrichment ingredients.
But before you start thinking,
"Wow, Xi Jinping is a great guy.
I want him to name my first-born daughter"
<i>cough</i> Zuckerberg—
you should know that his real motivation is,
yes,
his unending power struggle
with his toad-like predecessor Jiang Zemin.
Yes,
it's time to once again examine
the crimes of this dehydrated amphibian.
The one who rose to power
through the Tiananmen Square Massacre,
and sanctioned the widespread murder of prisoners of conscience
for their organs.
According to this Radio Free Asia report,
Jiang Zemin started giving nuclear material to North Korea
back in 1989,
after previous Chinese leaders refused to.
Allegedly,
he wanted to retaliate against the United States
and other hostile foreign forces who unfairly criticized
the Communist Party for its peaceful handling
of students in Tiananmen Square.
So,
Jiang Zemin may have helped North Korea
build its nuclear weapons program.
And even after Jiang Zemin stepped down,
his "number two" guy helped maintain that buddy buddy relationship.
Until that guy got purged by Xi Jin Ping.
But not to worry,
there's still the number three guy,
and the number four guy.
And that Chinese company
that sold nuclear materials to North Korea?
Looks like it also has ties to officials in Jiang's faction.
Shocking.
So essentially,
the future of the China-North Korea relationship
is tied to the Chinese Communist Party's
internal power struggle.
And as Xi Jinping purges his political enemies,
he's also purging the Sino-North Korea relationship—
because his political enemies were the ones
who built that relationship.
The Chinese Communist Party
is in a tricky situation here.
For years,
as North Korea's biggest trading partner and aid giver,
they managed to keep the country at a finely tuned level of crazy.
Just crazy enough to bother the US
and make China look good,
while not crazy enough to collapse and cause a massive influx
of refugees across China's border.
But now,
as North Korea gets increasingly drunk on the world stage,
China is acting like the embarrassed college roommate
who wants to pretend that they don't know North Korea,
who is a fully grown adult responsible for its own actions.
It's totally not China's fault, you guys.
But we all know who's going to have to hold North Korea's hair
as they vomit over the toilet.
So China's coldness towards North Korea over the last four years
is not because of Obama.
And it's unlikely to be reinforced by Trump, either.
Especially if Trump's policies come in Tweets.
I mean Twitter is banned in China,
so Trump really shouldn't expect Xi Jinping to read them.
Ok, I guess someone in China is reading his tweets.
So what do you think?
Leave your comments below.
Once again, I'm Shelley Zhang,
filling in for Chris Chappell until he gets back next week.
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