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North Korea has detonated a nuclear device underground of approximately the same size as the bomb the United States used to obliterate Hiroshima, and gone on to run some successful mid-range missile tests. The world is alarmed by the chronically isolated country's perceived petulant, apparently psychologically impaired and ill leadership. This coordinates with similar tests by Iran of their missiles, and the defiant continued development of Iranian nuclear power. The world is also alarmed by that country's perceived irrational, unstable leadership, currently holding a hard-fought election, located in such an unstable region. In both cases the United States has led in condemning these events, and is busy gathering support to respond, hoping to de-fuse the growing bellicosity of two, shall we call them, outside-the-Pale states.
Korea demands an immediate response, and here China has already formally condemned the nuclear test: "The Chinese Government is firmly opposed to this act," 25 May. South Korea has agreed to join the US Navy in stopping vessels on the high seas to inspect them for shipments of arms or nuclear material to or from North Korea. This announcement, unlike the Chinese statement, immediately triggered another series of violent threats from N. Korea, calling such a blockade a declaration of war and promising unimaginable destruction would be rained down on South Korea.
So, just how much substantive help can we expect from China against North Korea? China is the only military ally that country has. China, according to Gordon G. Chang, writing in Forbes on 25 May, supplies about 90 percent of N. Korea's oil, 60 percent of its consumer goods, and 45 percent of its food, and has consistently backed Pyongyang in the UN Security Council. Without China it is extremely unlikely that N. Korea would even exist, much less have a missile program or a nuclear program. Kim Jong Il, unlike Iran's Amadinejad, is "coldly rational," and would not have detonated that nuclear device if he believed China would really object.... and, so far, China has issued only that one tepid "objection." Certainly, China does have powerful leverage against N. Korea; does the US have any leverage over China, such that America can force real cooperation and direct help from Beijing?
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