Kim Jong-un, paramount leader of the North Korean dictatorship, is in Vietnam ready to meet President Donald Trump. Last June the two leaders met, applauded themselves and each other and made some sort of a deal even if it wasn’t the one Trump boasted about – the total elimination of the North’s nuclear weapons.
Nevertheless, the North has stopped nuclear testing. The US only stopped in 1992 and France in 1996, so this is a very important step forward. It should not be minimized as the American “Blob” is doing. (The “Blob”, a creation of the White House of President Barack Obama, is the highly influential industrial/military/legislative/media complex, a majority of whom are hard line on foreign affairs.)
The North also has begun dismantling a missile-engine test site. Set against that, the US intelligence community and independent observers say it is continuing to build intercontinental missiles and is preparing to conceal its nuclear assets and activities.
In the wings of these negotiations will be China.
It has long opposed what North Korea is doing, at one time joining the West and Russia in imposing sanctions. But it has never quite squeezed hard enough to have a real effect.
Some observers wonder how steadfast an ally China will be in the future. If war broke out between the North and South Korea how would it deal with the North’s nuclear weapons? Would it seek to quickly impound them? And if it tried to, does its army have the capability of doing so?
Or would it tolerate US/UN troops crossing the border from south to north to do that job, fearing that the US would then effectively take over the North?
A handful of US scholars, most notably Oriana Skylar Mastro of Georgetown University, who writes in the current issue of Harvard’s “International Security”, believe the evidence shows that China could and would invade if it thought it necessary.
She has interviewed two dozen Chinese scholars – think tank researchers, scientists and military officers- as well as senior people in the main relevant bodies in Washington. From that and a number of international seminars she draws her conclusions.
The US should tolerate a Chinese intervention as being in its own interests. To do the job itself would require nearly 200,000 troops. (It has already in the South a relatively modest 30,000.) Indeed, if necessary, it should provide to China its intelligence and, later, its nuclear demolition expertise.
The US should also accept the fact that if there were
China has a lot to be angry about.
North Korea tests its nuclear tests only 130 km from the Chinese border. The North has constantly refrained from Chinese requests to avoid provocative activities, completing eighty-six missile tests and four nuclear tests. In
China has its contingency plans in place in case of a North/South war. China will move troops 50 km across the border. It will probably create two buffer zones. First, to blockade North Korea’s major ports. Second, to intercept and search fleeing refugees and military personnel.
Within that 50 km the North has a good proportion of its nuclear and missile sites- 45% of the former and 22% of the latter. A fast Chinese invasion, carried out at dawn, could capture these sites within the hour.
China would welcome an improved relationship with the South. Chinese experts expect that trade volumes would increase dramatically after reunification. China would be able to export goods across the North to the South. It could use Korean ports, reducing congestion in its own southern ones.
On the other hand, China does worry that South Korea would seize that part of the North’s bombs and missiles which are located far from its border with China.
China hears about the ongoing debate in the South about whether to be nuclear armed or not. It should not worry. To possess nuclear weapons itself would be a very extremely unpopular decision among the South’s voters. Moreover, the South would confront irresistible international pressure not to call the North’s nuclear arsenal its own.
Chinese diplomats in Hanoi will be tuning in to the summit as much as they can. The meeting place is probably bugged, and their informants among Vietnamese diplomats are many.
It’s important that Trump is well briefed by the Chinese and vice versa. America has power. But in this situation, China probably has the whip hand.
If Trump doesn’t make use of this – with a private agreement from President Xi Jinping to be his proxy – the talks will probably fail.
Trump must make use of China’s strength.
One Response
I believe that some of the speculation is a little too gloomy. Instead of either China or America invading North Korea to disarm it of its nuclear weapons, which would be very risky because even if North Korea uses some of its remaining nuclear weapons against the side that attacks it, it would be too costly. Therefore, it would be better to continue the current incremental steps. As the learned author points out, already some modest progress has been made which should not be underestimate. North Korea is scared of what the United States would do to it, given the past history of US military activities and sanctions against North Korea. There seems to be a genuine desire in both the south and the north for either unification or at least much closer relations. This should be encouraged and the United States should declare the end of the Korean war and should withdraw its forces and nuclear weapons from the South. It is surprising what previously hostile states can achieve in the absence of foreign meddling, as we witness in Vietnam where the summit is being held.