In case you are wondering why China speaks up on the matter of nuclear testing by North Korea, it is because the rest of the world sees China as complicit in that testing. China gets a pass on development of nuclear weapons because the real work is being done by North Korea, which you may remember, brought in Iran to observe the last one.
China wonders why we need to put ballistic missile defense systems in South Korea, while they carry on with nuclear testing. We have to wonder why China would care about that under these circumstances. They have to take us for fools.
Just in case you think there is no possibility that China can influence the North, look at this MIT chart on trade . Roughly 85% of every trade deal done by North Korea is done with China, either imports or exports. That alone is enough leverage to stop anything from happening that China does not want to happen, including every nuclear test North Korea has ever done. So, when the Chinese say "that was bad" they are only saying what is needed to deflect blame from the only country in a position to stop it.
I said in my Congressional testimony that I believed the same thing about North Korea and China in the hacking of Sony. China wanted to demonstrate a capability for a new kind of information war, the kind where theft of information is followed by selective release of stolen material. Business leaders must wonder what would happen in that kind of attack were run on their corporate infrastructures. It makes a very good deterrent, something the U.S does not have.
The nuclear testing is just another step in this information war. They want to see how the world reacts. By focusing on North Korea, we make a serious mistake. We should focus on how China uses proxies to further its policies. North Korea doesn't do anything that China would not agree to.
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