by WorldTribune Staff, April 12, 2017 North Korea.

Red lines and condemning rogue states is in vogue, so would-be superpower China is getting into the act.

In an editorial, China’s Global Times, which is owned and operated by the Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper, said Beijing would attack Pyongyang’s nuclear facilities if North Korea crosses China’s “bottom line.”

China is North Korea’s only ally and its primary means of support including food, fuel and, according to informed observers, strategic assistance.

The editorial said North Korea’s nuclear activities must not jeopardize northeastern China, and that if the North impacts China with its nuclear tests through either “nuclear leakage or pollution”, then China will respond with force.

“China has a bottom line that it will protect at all costs, that is, the security and stability of northeast China… If the bottom line is touched, China will employ all means available including the military means to strike back. By that time, it is not an issue of discussion whether China acquiesces in the U.S.’s blows, but the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will launch attacks to DPRK nuclear facilities on its own.”

The editorial, clearly aimed at an audience that includes American officials, extolled the advantages to the world of a Chinese attack on North Korea’s nuclear facilities.

Once the PLA attacks the North’s nuclear sites, the Kim Jong-Un regime will permanently suspend its nuclear weapons programs, the editorial said.

North Korea “has limited resources of nuclear materials and is strictly blockaded in the outside world, erasing the possibility for DPRK to get the materials again.”

The editorial also noted that “nuclear weapons is DPRK’s trump card for its defiance of China and the United States. Once this card is lost, it will become obedient immediately.”

The editorial also hinted that China may be more than willing to wait for U.S. President Donald Trump to “decapitate” the Kim Jong-Un regime so Beijing could immediately swoop in and install its preferred leadership.

The Global Times editorial said that Pyongyang “will not be allowed to have a government that is hostile against China on the other side of the Yalu River.”

  China delivers an official warning to North Korea through its state-owned media, Global Times editorial, Kim Jong-Un regime, North Korea nuclear program, North Korea warned against crossing China’s ‘bottom line’, WorldTribune.com