[cmahler7]

Something needs to be done about China, they could end the situation in North Korea instantly by stopping trading with them. The fact they don't, combined with their aggression in the South China Sea is telling. Sanctions or tariffs should be placed, there are plenty of 3rd world countries with cheap labor.

[dogma1138]

China doesn't want million of Korean refugees crossing into China.

It doesn't want a true humanitarian disaster on scales rarely seen before in history.

And NK is a good distraction that China can pull out of its pocket anytime its own activists in the area are getting too much scrutiny.

[mcguire]

"It doesn't want a true humanitarian disaster on scales rarely seen before in history."

The entire population of North Korea is about 25 million people. Famine during the "Great Leap Forward" killed somewhere between 15 and 55 million people, while 3-5 million died by violence. You can't make an omelette in China without killing a million people.

China does not want Korean refugees. And North Korea is a dandy client state to have around. But pulling the plug on North Korea wouldn't be a disaster on scales seen in the last century.

[wavefunction]

Seems short-sighted, as in the winding down of the Kim Juche dynasty through a planned-for and managed process seems more attractive to China than those million+ refugees fleeing North Korea en masse because we went back to a shooting war.

In fact there is absolutely no real reason for China not to begin this effort immediately with or without the assistance of partners, given how their leniency has allowed NK to develop ICBMs and the fact they'll face the tidal wave if they fail to act to remove the NK regime. What happens if the fail to prepare and a war between NK/US happens? They're still going to be dealing with the refugees.

The US is not going to suffer a NK that and and does threaten nuclear attack as a foreign policy.

[bilbo0s]

China's position is not about humanitarianism...

their position is about the US and Russia.

This situation happened back in the mid-1950's as well, only difference was that it was Russia that wanted North Korea reigned in. China gave essentially the same response at that time.

[Stranger43]

Try to look at it from a Chinese point of view, or try to imagine what the US reaction would be to a few squadrons of Chinese warships patrolling just outside the territorial line in the Mexican gulf on the pretense of protecting Cuba's maritime interests? and try and come up with a scenario where the US is as passive as the Chinese have been.

Then try and remember that the US Navy did spend about a century acting as corporate thugs for a bunch of mostly Japanese cartels doing the unequal treaty period until China re-emerged as a independent state under the communist in the 50ies followed by about 30years of the US pretending that the puppet regime in Taiwan was the rightful rulers of china and today backs the a Japanese government that don't feel japan have anything to be ashamed of in regard to their occupation of Chinese territory.

It's way to easy for someone with a basic western education using only mainstream western news sources to forget that the world looks quite a bit different to everybody else that the west behavior have historically never been consistent with anything the west considered to be core western values and that those behaviors havent been forgotten in the east.

Even more modern examples have demonstrated to the 3rd world that you cannot necessarily trust to US to implement a democratic system even if they gain 110% control over a region either due to incompetence or other motives. I.E. i doubt there is any genuine 3rd world pro-democracy movement that want the kind of help the West have provided in the middle east or Caucasus.

The North Korean conflict have to be seen in the light of the very genuine distrust the Chinese have for not just the US government but also Japan's claim that they actually represent anything related to western values. And you begin to understand why the Chinese cannot really tolerate a reunification under the current week and in the Chinese's government view non-independent South Korean government.

[wbl]

Just abut nothing, tbh. Sure they would put a carrier nearby on notice and maybe step up patrols out of San Diego, but the US is more then capable if winning and doesn't want to give any hothead an excuse to start something.

[lotsofpulp]

China has a fifth of the world's population, they would not be affected by sanctions and tariffs. The power balance is shifting in their favor, and they know they can't be replaced by any other 3rd world country with cheap labor, there is tremendous value from the network effects Chinese production facilities have. The USA effectively has a competitor now, and US politicians can talk all they want, but the fact that they have done nothing so far shows that they can do nothing at all.

[Taniwha]

Yup, and the USA is sitting on its hands rather than actually competing, China is eating it's lunch. Believing in your own superiority doesn't make it so, you actually have to get off your arse.

It would probably help if the US had kept it's once excellent education system, instead the anti-tax know nothings have refused to invest in their future.

Really it's time to tax the rich the way they did in the 50s and make all that infrastructure stuff work again.

Want to make America great again? get Trump and his rentier class to pay their taxes, in the US and fund a smarter next generation

[rorykoehler]

You do know this site is frequented by non Americans too?

[undersuit]

Hopefully the GP knows he isn't speaking for all Americans either.