The tremors of the soi-distant “Hydrogen Bomb” test conducted by North Korea were enough to heat up the political lobbies of the congresses around the world. The Trump administration has sprung into action with its threats of strangulating the belligerent nation through its military and trade policies, South Korea is in a quandary as President Moon Jae-in’s attempts to reinvigorate the “Sunshine Policy” to lure Pyongyang into disarmament through economic engagement have been futile per se, and People’s Republic of China (PRC) is too facing predicaments pertaining to the reprehensibly defiant attitude of the North Korean despot Kim Jon-un.
The Korean nuclear crisis go back to the events following the aftermath of “6-2-5- Upheaval” or the Korean War. Much as the Pyongyang led by Kim Il-sung was able to repel the US forces with abetment received from the Chinese as well as the Soviet army, it become well conversant with the fact that its belligerent predilections would be a juxtaposition with the increasing USA’s influence and the hiking economic horizons of Seoul and ergo North Korea led to the commencement of its “all-fortressization policy” which rose to its summit in 2006 and struck open the contemporary Pandora’s box –North Korean Nuclear crisis.
Though, to most, North Korea seems to be an esoteric country led by an egotist and egoist tyrant, it seems much abstruse as to how the nation notwithstanding various sanctions continue to soar high in the development of ginormously detrimental weapons of mass destruction. If we dig deep down, it is not difficult to find out that one of the many reasons for the existence and the unfortunate success is the dragon’s tail.
The US President’s tweet including a warning that he’s gravely considering “stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea” was decried and termed as a diplomatic faux pas by many American policy analysts (they say that the first rule of democracy is never to make an inexecutable threat), but still it sufficed to convey how much hapless the US is at the Mandarin’s illegitimate support to the North Korea.
But, it is no covert fact that Chinese too have a huge stake in this business. In fact, taking up the 90% of the total investments of such an erratic nation would never be at the Chinese desk had North Korea not been a weapon against the American influence in the Korean peninsula regions. China doesn’t want US marines on its borders and is wary of the fact that the degeneration of the Kim Jon-un’s regime would ultimately lead to nothing less than US’s invasion of its border and it certainly wants no South Korea near its periphery.
This Chinese policy too started with the culmination of Mao’s China. PRC had been in existence for less than a year, but Mao knew that striking at the US would ultimately be a big leap for the newly erected communist regime. Sans any delay, Mao Zedong deputed as many as 3 million military personnel under the banner of People’s Volunteer Army. His policy worked in a paragon manner. Chinese belligerence on the pretext of its help to the North Korea remained largely successful in its various operations and Chinese, being proud of this achievement, still continues to meddle with the “rogue” North Korea in order to subvert the USA’s influence in the Eastern region.
North Korea is presently China’s 82nd biggest trade partner. China’s unqualified support to North Korea has led to escalation of trade turnover from $550 million in 1995 to $5.6 billion in 2011. Indubitably, China is North Korea’s trade lifeline. 57% of the latter’s import and 42% of its export is directly germane to China. According to Chinese government, Pyongyang’s export to China amounted for $3 billion and imports shot up to $3.6 billion. China, indeed, is the major reason behind the survival of North Korea. For more than half a century, the 20 miles long “The Friendship Pipeline” running beneath the Yalu River has been serving as the North’s lifeline. Exact figures of the Chinese export through “The Friendship Lifeline” are not reported. Chinese government stopped citing the figures related to the pipeline a few years back. Nautilus Institute, a think tank specializing in North Korean energy statistics, believes that with the spur of economic growth, Kim Jon-un may be importing 850,000 tons of crude oil this year. According to various statisticians, North Korea uses almost a third of the crude oil import to fuel its military equipments for routine, nor-wartime usages.
No matter how much China exhibits its affectations of stiff action towards the growing North Korean military prowess, it is wary of the fact that any kind of trade embargo imposed on the North through the Chinese side would only undermine its influence on Pyongyang. Steve K. Bannon, Trump’s ousted Chief strategist outrightly said, “This is 100 percent about China. You have got to sanction the Chinese company and Chinese financial institution.”
No matter how much the world talks about constricting the North Korean animosity, until and unless China is pressurized to restrict its trade with Pyongyang, we must expect no change. War is certainly not a viable solution, but diplomatic policies can ultimately lead to a triumph in this inexplicable harrowing impasse. The ball remains in the Chinese court and the question is still: To Do Or Not To Do.
JAI HIND, JAI BHARAT
JAI MA BHARTI
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