China is unlikely to take strong action in response to North Korea’s claimed test of a hydrogen bomb, according to experts who say Beijing prefers the devil it knows to the uncertainty that could fol
China is unlikely to take strong action in response to North Korea’s claimed test of a hydrogen bomb, according to experts who say Beijing prefers the devil it knows to the uncertainty that could follow a confrontation.
And whether Pyongyang would even listen is highly questionable, they say.Governments around the world have long pushed the Asian giant to moderate its wayward neighbour’s bad behaviour, arguing that Beijing’s support for Pyongyang gives it particular influence over the hermit kingdom.
But that is ever less true, experts say. Relations forged in the blood of the Korean War — with the countries once called “as close as teeth and lips” — have taken a licking since Kim Jong-Un took control of North Korea following the 2011 death of his father.
“China’s influence on North Korea is becoming weaker and weaker, the main issue is that the North’s leadership do not listen, they are very stubborn”, said Zhu Feng, an expert on international relations.
Pyongyang, he added, may believe it can “exp-loit” its relationship with its main diplomatic protector while Beijing is distracted by tensions with other neighbours and the US in the South China Sea.
Beijing — which regularly calls for calm on the Korean peninsula — has become increasingly frustrated with its neighbour’s antics, a feeling undoubtedly exacerbated by its fourth nuclear test.
Unlike his father Kim Jong-Il, Pyongyang’s current leader has not visited Beijing since coming to power. In December, he dispatched his all-girl pop group, the Moranbong band, to serenade China’s top leaders in what was widely seen as a sign of warming ties, potentially heralding a trip.
But while they were in Beijing, Pyongyang announced it had developed an H-bomb and the band suddenly headed home on the eve of their performance, leaving relations in the deep freeze.
Only four days later Kim signed the order to begin 2016 with the “thrilling sound of the first hydrogen bomb explosion”.
Despite the shock developments, Zhu said, China’s foreign ministry stuck to familiar language, firmly opposing the nuclear test and, yet ag-ain, calling for the resu-mption of the moribund six-party talks.
