Posted on 02/18/2017 3:24:57 PM PST by NRx
BEIJING — China will suspend all imports of coal from North Korea until the end of the year, the Commerce Ministry announced Saturday, in a surprise move that would cut off a major financial lifeline for Pyongyang and significantly enhance the effectiveness of U.N. sanctions.
Coal is North Korea’s largest export item, and also China’s greatest point of leverage over the regime.
The ministry said the ban would come into force Sunday and be effective until Dec. 31.
China said the move was designed to implement November’s United Nations Security Council resolution that tightened sanctions against the regime in the wake of its last nuclear test.
But experts said the move also reflected Beijing’s deep frustration with North Korea over its recent missile test and the assassination of Kim Jong Un’s half brother in Malaysia.
Kim Jong Nam had been hosted and protected by China for many years, and his murder, if proved to be conducted on Pyongyang’s orders, would be seen as a direct affront to Beijing, experts said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
+1 for the analysis and +1 for the tag
Send in Bill Richardson; he’s a master with the norks.
This is yuge!
Nork is just going to have to crank up the printing press on those $100 bills it exports to SEA and probably to China, too. I don’t know if they are useful in China but they are how people in Viet Nam, at least, salt away money and are the source of much of the inflation there.
China has good reason to actually cut off NK. KJN was a good friend.
Sounds about right. I think perhaps the civil war will be confined to the upper crust, though, and look to us more like two Mafia families going at each other.
China makes calculations .... Will a sane world?
That’s pretty extreme!
Ping
Sounds lovely, what could possibly go wrong?
Stick it to ‘em China and about time.
That said, sounds like the article says they did something like this once before.
Significant development.
That one who they poisoned, I’m sure he wasn’t great but he was still as close to a reformer as they have had.
No. Kim Jong-nam had been under China's protection for years. They didn't like Kim Jong-un killing him.
Was Trump involved in encouraging China? A coincidence?
Te rank and file will suffer the most, given, but if they suffer, they won’t be able to work and the economy will suffer eventually. Hopefully.
Why only until the end of the year?
Perhaps there are various demands on the table that must be met before China decides whether to extend the ban. One can hope.
“Sounds about right. I think perhaps the civil war will be confined to the upper crust, though, and look to us more like two Mafia families going at each other.”
The problem with this is there have been so many purges, eliminations, assassinations, prison terms handed down that who would be left to form the proverbial other family?
I don’t think we have any idea just how frightened and effective the terror is in top leadership may be to even talk to one another to propose such a thing.
This latest Kim makes Michael Corleone look like a piker in real world power struggles.
Found a betting site in Australia thats lets you bet whether Kim Jung Un or Trump will be in office longer. KJU is the favorite. 20 pays 54 on Trump. Tempted to punt 20 on the Trumpster based on the story.
There’s also another reason: does any remember that US$400 billion deal with Russia for the Russians to supply natural gas from Siberia to China? China did that deal so they could cut back on the usage of highly-polluting coal-fired electric power plants.
Very VERY interesting. While we only see snippets of US policy thanks to the useless US news, we learn a lot from seemingly insignificant stories such as this. China has always enjoyed having NK as a thorn in our side. BUT both our nations tolerate NK and give them fuel and food. If China is cutting off their fuel what does that mean for Trump’s policies with China??? Especially in the context of their recent provocations. Very very interesting indeed....
I predict this is a very good sign of things to come.
I like to think of it as more winning with Trump....
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