Reuters
Weifeng Zhong, National Interest: China Is Trying to Bribe North Korea into Good Behavior. Here Is What That Means for America.
Understanding this relationship has important implications on how the United States can effectively deter North Korea.
As President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet in Beijing this week, not much about the North Korea crisis has changed since their Mar-a-Lago summit in April. U.S. policy toward the “Rocket Man” will not bear much fruit unless the Trump administration comes to terms with the fact that Sino–North Korean relations are strained these days.
China’s growing trade with the rogue state understandably frustrates Mr. Trump. To be fair, China’s dominance of North Korea trade is partly driven by the fact that other countries are cutting ties with Pyongyang. It is in Beijing’s interest to support the Kim regime and prevent it from collapsing, so that thousands of refugees do not pour across the border. But the fact that China ramped up its economic support in recent years—driving North Korea’s overall trade from $4.8 billion in 2006 to as high as $7.8 billion in 2013, according to the International Monetary Fund—calls for further explanation.
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WNU Editor: There is a lot of truth to the above story that China has a long history of bribing North Korea to "behave" via through trade .... but should the U.S. try to "bribe" China by using the trade weapon to stop them from supporting North Korea? From my perspective .... I personally think that is exactly what President Trump has been trying to do since his first meeting with Chinese President Xi in April. Will it succeed? I think we will only know the answer when President Trump returns to Washington, and will he start to impose penalties on Chinese firms and banks that do business with North Korea far more than what he has done so far.
