<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> WorldTribune.com: Mobile Ñ What's really going on in Pyongyang? Hu Jintao wakes up and smells the kimchi

What's really going on in Pyongyang? Hu Jintao wakes up and smells the kimchi

Tuesday, June 9, 2009   E-Mail this story   Free Headline Alerts

By Willy Lam

Willy Lam writes the weekly 'Inside China' for East-Asia-Intel.com.

Beijing has finally awakened to the fact that it has to use tough tactics to deter Pyongyang from developing nuclear and missile capacities that could hurt China as much as the U.S., Japan or South Korea.

Speaking indirectly for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) administration, influential Korea specialists and government advisers have all but admitted that Beijing had misread the intentions of the Kim Jong-Il regime. Diplomatic sources in Beijing and Seoul expect that Beijing could ratchet up the pressure on the DPRK by first curtailing electricity and petroleum supplies to its disobedient client state.

Immediately after PyongyangÕs nuclear test on May 25, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Ministry (MOFA) issued a tough statement condemning the DPRKÕs Òfailure to heed the opposition of the international community.Ó While MOFA called on Òall parties concernedÓ to resort to consultation and dialogue to resolve the issue, it is likely that Beijing will give its consent to sanctions being discussed by the UN Security Council this month.

The Hu Jintaoleadership has also given the green light to big-name academics to fire fusillades of criticism at Pyongyang. The attack is led by Zhang Liangui, a top Korean expert at the CCPÕs Central Party School. Removing the kid gloves that Chinese officials and academics have usually used regarding the DPRK, Zhang indicated that PyongyangÕs ambitious nuclear program might constitute a threat to China.

Referring to the fact that the nuclear test site was much closer to ChinaÕs industrialized northeastern provinces than to Pyongyang, Zhang said a nuclear mishap could mean that ÒChinaÕs reviving northeast will burst like a bubble.Ó ÒThis is an unprecedented threat that China has never faced in its thousands of years,Ó he said.

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