Will North Korea ever open up? Not if China has a say.
And China does have a say. A big say. China is North Korea’s best friend in the world – a friendship that was cemented with blood when Chairman Mao sent hundreds of thousands of soldiers to their deaths in North Korea in 1950.
Back then it was all about showing the world that a young People’s Republic of China could throw her weight around in Asia. It was also about doing the bidding of Stalin – the man who created the Korean war and played his two biggest opponents, America and China, off each other brilliantly. It wasn’t until Stalin’s death in 1953 that an armistice could finally be signed which brought the hostilities -but not the war- to an end.
Now, almost 60 years later,after the fall of the Soviet Union and the emergence of China as Asia’s most powerful nation, China’s support for North Korea has seemingly never wavered – not publicly at least. Unfortunately, it seems that China has done very little to encourage its little Communist neighbor to follow her lead and open up to development and modernization.
North Korea is what China was 50 years ago. But while China has been moving in the right direction since the 70′s, North Korea has continued to stagnate in a cesspool of totalitarianism and Stalinist ideology that has severely stunted its growth.
Contrary to what many may think, the relationship between China and North Korea is not one of ideological solidarity. It is not a matter of two Communist countries standing together. There is little similarity these days between the two countries. In fact, many have suggested that China can no longer be classified as a Communist country.
So why is China not doing more to encourage North Korea to open up?
Here are a couple of reasons listed briefly:
China fears the collapse of the North Korean government and the influx of millions of refugees into the Northeast.
China desperately seeks to maintain the status quo in North Korea knowing that any major social or political changes on the peninsula could send millions of starving North Koreans flooding over the border. China, already overpopulated and congested, would be unable to deal with such an influx of people – or so Beijing claims.
China fears that any ‘opening’ of North Korea – if not brought on by the U.S. – would quickly involve the U.S.
China lost hundreds of thousands of men in its successful attempt to keep the U.S. out of North Korea in the 1950′s. Any sudden social or political upheaval in North Korea could open the way for the U.S. to march back in and China is not about to let that happen. The last thing that Beijing wants is to have a large U.S. military presence right next door.
In addition, it doesn’t take a military genius to look at a map and quickly assess the strategical importance of North Korea (and the entire Korean peninsula) to China. China has had its hands in Korea for hundreds of years and Beijing isn’t going to drawback anytime soon.
China fears reunification
Perhaps China’s greatest fear is the reunification of North and South. A unified Korea would upset the balance of power in Asia and pose a threat to China’s dominance. China needs North Korea to help it counter the the influence of the U.S., Japan, and South Korea in the region.
China needs North Korea for leverage
While some have said that China’s importance in the Six Party talks were exaggerated, there is little question that one has to go through China to even have the chance of making any headway with North Korea. Without China, the West can do very little with North Korea and China knows it. This, of course, gives China some leverage on other hot issues such as its human rights problem and manipulation of currency. China needs North Korea to help deflect criticism off its own problems.
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Even taken alone, any one of these reasons make it highly unlikely that North Korea is going to open up anytime soon. China simply won’t have it.
And we haven’t even put Russia into the equation. If the U.S. did decide to attack North Korea again someday, it could very well lead to World War III.
Meanwhile, millions of people in North Korea find themselves suspended in time under a perpetual cloud of oppression and starvation. They are the victims of a geopolitical stalemate that at least for the time being, cannot be broken.
Thus, we must pray that God will help the various international actors involved in this tragedy to consider the North Korean people and put politics aside for the sake of humanity.
