Posted on 08/10/2017 8:15:48 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Oh dear! China, you chose poorly.
You are correct, IMO.
The United States is much more important to the Chinese than North Korea.
Why? One word: Trump.
President Trump should say to China, “We will not let you stay neutral.
This is also your very dangerous mess, on your border that you for the most part allowed to happen. End of story.”
If this situation wasn’t so dangerous, then it really is like dealing with unruly children — you have to spell out credible tough but firm consequenses to bad behavior.
North Korea is a Chinese puppet; China cannot claim any neutrality, it would be a lie.
“If US strikes first, the Chinese will launch on an American city.”
1) We will retaliate, much harder. They will have attacked us first, just like Japan did.
2) They will then not sell a single product in this country, leading to an economic depression there, causingivil unrest.
3) Those roughly $1 trillion worth of our bonds that China owns? Gone with a single Trump signature.
All for North $hitholestan and it’s whack-job dictator? Really? I am sure that China’s leaders are a lot smarter than that.
If N Korea attacks Guam or any US territory, China understand that the US will retaliate and destroy N Korea and its leaders.
China will have an incredible refuge problem and the winter season of starvation is soon coming to N. Korea. China doesn’t want to deal with all those starving people trying to survive.
There are some foolish responses in this thread and some brilliant ones. Just brilliant.
My sense:
1. This statement by China is indeed a game changer, whether credible or not. To side with the nut in NK and to say effectively, “NK gets to take the first strike” is a profoundly big step.
2. Beyond the part of the decision tree that has to do with the prospect of war, China with this statement forever more “owns” NK however things work out in the short run. Even if things settle down for five years or more, it is now crystal clear (as if it were not already) that the Chinese are dangerous US adversaries. And going forward every nutty thing that NK does might as well come from straight from Beijing.
3. Why now? Considering that China could have waited to make this statement, the urgency of getting it out there tells me that the Chinese think that Trump’s threat is real and possibly imminent. They take Trump seriously even if the US media do not.
4. This statement by the Chinese also indicates that they think that the US military’s plan vis-a-vis NK would work, though of course at great cost. Trump is not a raving madman and he isn’t going to launch a military strike that has no chance of achieving its objectives. They believe Trump’s threat is credible, which means that it almost surely is credible.
5. Again, why now? Considering that the Chinese have figured out #1 through #4, it must also be the case that they believe that given time — and there isn’t much of that left — they can effectively and (at least quasi) permanently eliminate the NK threat. It has always made sense for the Chinese to handle this but they have not previously had appropriate urgency or incentives. Now they do!
I am no fan of President Trump, but I respect the guy and I think he has a plan. At this point he cannot and should not back down. What should Trump do next?
First, come right out and say that from this day forward, anything that comes out of NK might as well come from Beijing. They own it. Then every time that NK does something stupid Trump should come right out and say that the Chinese had a hand in it.
Second, tell the world that China needs to fix this and to fix it soon. Time is up.
Third, the President needs to reiterate all that he has said up to this point but to go into hyper- hyper- hyper-rational mode. Choose words carefully. Make clear that “fire and fury” applies only to what will happen if NK launches the first strike, and so forth. No tweets, pleeease, on missile launches!
Fourth, through back channels make clear to the Chinese how fantastically furious that the President is with Beijing. Tell them that the President will make this every day an excruciating pain point for the Chinese until they get the job done. The rhetoric will be headline news. Every time NK opens their mouths or fires off a missile, Trump is going to say that it came from Beijing. There will be real and substantive policy implications that cost the Chinese money and markets.
Five, make sure that the Chinese get it that unless this thing is defused completely and deftly by the Chinese, there will be no forgiveness ever. Things have gone far enough down the road that there have to be long term implications — grave ones — for what the Chinese have done and are doing in NK.
North Korea is China’s junkyard dog. They keep him chained out back, and get all irritated when the neighbors complain that the dog keeps slipping his leash and terrorizes the neighborhood.
Under the circumstances it’s not going to matter if the US or it’s allies take the first shot. NK has given ample provocation. But China should consider that the radioactivity released by non-nuclear strikes against North Korean reactors and weapons bunkers is going to have an immediate, long-lasting affect on Northeast China.
Time to have that dog put-down.
Many Chinese are already afraid of possible fallout if N. Korea's nuclear test goes wrong. This prospect could spook them further.
They are made places besides China.
For example: it seems like a lot of Samsung monitors are made in Mexico so if you were looking to buy a new monitor you wouldn’t have to buy from the ChiComs.
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