It’s the Chinese, Stupid!

Sec'y Clinton in China

For those of us obsessed with China’s deleterious rise to their current position as economic [and likely military] super-power and the effects of the United State’s Faustian Bargain with them, it comes as no surprise that the resolution of the current situation with the Paranoid Kingdom’s (ie. North Korea) nuclear acting out (see my post about this, here), will depend largely on China.

Over at Huffington Post, UN journalist Evelyn Leopold highlights the current predicament:

Another nuclear test, missiles and threats from North Korea and the world is waiting for the Obama administration’s reaction. But unless China takes firm steps, action from Washington can fall flat.

The first stop, before any bilateral action, is the U.N. Security Council, which reflects the national positions of its key members (the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France). Japan has a seat on the council this year and South Korea is involved in talks.

[snip]

North Korea is seemingly eager to attract US attention on national holidays. The 2006 test of its long-range Taepodong-2 missile came on July 4 and a second — and this time successful — underground nuclear test was on Monday, Memorial Day. But not everything happens on a holiday. On April 5, the North Koreans fired a three stage rocket from the Musudan-ri launch site in the northeast that they said was a communication satellite while the United States says the launch was a practice session for launching a nuclear warhead.

Since Memorial Day, the threats have mounted — from restarting a closed nuclear reactor to warning South Korea of a military response if any of its vessels were searched. The United States has created the Proliferation Security Initiative, aimed at stopping ships that carry nuclear materials or other weapons of mass destruction. South Korea on Tuesday said it would join the PSI, which is permitted under the 2006 Security Council resolution. China is said to be reluctant to engage in such searches but its cooperation is needed, at minimum, to stop some of the weapons-related supplies from reaching or leaving its Korean neighbor.

China delivers fuel and food to North Korea and an estimated 80 percent of its consumer goods are made in China. While experts believe Beijing does not want its neighbor to have nuclear weapons, it also fears a collapse of the regime if there is too much pressure, driving more refugees over the border.

A return to Six Party talks is desired by the US, but N. Korea seems to be doing it’s best to let everyone know that it has no intention of following the dictates of any previous diplomatic agreements or arrangements. Stuart Whatley puts it this way:

Compounding this problematic situation further is China’s increased international clout, stemming from the financial crisis. The United States is no longer in any position to issue ex cathedra demands to the PRC, given that China owns $700 billion in US treasury bonds and is a necessary player in addressing climate change. This fact is highlighted in both Secretary of State Clinton’s and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s unwillingness to speak out on Chinese human rights offenses, despite that both women have been abundantly vocal on these issues in the past.

Moreover, China is speaking out more and more on a global scale to solidify its new-found prestige. Chinese officials have called for a new international reserve currency, and its $586 billion domestic stimulus package — which proportionally exceeds even the Obama administration’s $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — sets an impressive example by any measure.[emphasis added]

Keep in mind that this new-found “clout” China is throwing around like so much confetti at a New Years parade, is largely a result of our long-term willingness to partake in China’s export of cheap goods, lack of environmental regulations or child labor laws, so as to line the pockets of corporate America, who find such quaint regulations overly-burdensome. This is not a mess of any one administration’s making, but rather the result of a crony-capitalism mentality run-amok. Unfortunately for President Obama and Secretary Clinton, they are now charged with the difficult task of cleaning it all up and it becomes more and more clear why the administration wanted to start off on good footing with the Chinese, even if it meant not highlighting their deplorable human rights record (see my post about this, here and here). Of course, completely separating China’s human rights abuses from it’s current status as economic leviathan, is impossible.

UPDATE: Over at Foreign Policy’s Madame Secretary, they report on the efforts of Secretary Clinton to get the international community on-board with a “unified response” to North Korea’s latest war-mongering posture.

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