Wikileaks cables reveal China 'ready to abandon North Korea'

Leaked dispatches show Beijing is frustrated with military actions of 'spoiled child' and increasingly favours reunified Korea




South Korean war veterans protest after North Korea attacked Yeonpyeong Island. The WikiLeaks cables reveal Seoul believes such actions are those of a 'spoiled child'.

China has signalled its readiness to accept Korean reunification and is privately distancing itself from the North Korean regime, according to leaked US embassy cables that reveal senior Beijing figures regard their official ally as a "spoiled child".

News of the Chinese shift comes at a crucial juncture after the North's artillery bombardment of a South Korean island last week that killed four people and led both sides to threaten war. China has refused to condemn the North Korean action. But today Beijing appeared to bow to US pressure to help bring about a diplomatic solution, calling for "emergency consultations" and inviting a senior North Korean official to Beijing.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/29/wikileaks-cables-china-reunified-korea



Unified Korea - possibly not such a bad thing?

:hi:

Since they'll have to clean up the mess that is NK.

They'd have to clean up the mess, but I can't imagine they wouldn't have outside help in doing so considering the humanitarian issues alone - and if they were in a clean-up-the-mess situation they'd also no longer be in a position to worry constantly about Seoul being flattened.

:woohoo:

:nuke:

I think this should be considered by FAR the biggest news out of the release of the cables. If NK feels that they're about to be abandoned by their one and only ally, without whom they cannot survive as a country, then they really have nothing to lose by attempting to take the South by force. They're gone as a power if they lose or do nothing, but if they managed to eke out a victory--even with a body count in the millions--then they would have more or less undisputed control of the peninsula, and everyone would be forced to deal with them.

the NK cannot take SK by force - they couldn't do it with China's direct support and involvement 50 years ago, they won't do it with starving troops and no supply lines against the US air force.

And even if they never launched one, they could very easily use them as a deterrent against the US: stay out of it, or we'll launch.

Besides which, it doesn't matter if they could actually win or not. Desperation can do strange things to people.

US Response: Go ahead. We'll happily retaliate.

Would you bet the lives of millions of people on the assumption that the North Korean leadership, knowing that they're at the end anyway, isn't going to pull the trigger?

:scared:

I don't know if they will and I obviously hope they won't, but it's probably there. The tech gap between the two countries is widening, since South Korea's undergoing a dramatic upgrade of their armed forces lately, and chances are by 2020 they'd be able to stop North Korea cold entirely on their own, even if it would still hurt.

I can definitely see at least a few North Korean generals looking at that as "we have no chance whatsoever after that time limit expires, but we have a non-zero chance now, so maybe we should think about it."

if the NK regime feels it can mend the relationship with China by not taking such an aggressive position, they may stand down.

in that region today. It's why stealing secret documents is illegal.

They want to sell things, not deal with hostilities on their border. At some point in the future reunification must happen for the good of all.