Taipei Times,
Taiwan
Wake Up World! China Doesn't Want to End Missile Crisis
EDITORIAL
July 7, 2006
Taiwan - Taipei Times - Original
Article (English) 
It is easy to condemn North Korea's reckless and destabilizing
behavior. The regime of ruthless dictator Kim Jong-il has done little to elicit
sympathy from anyone with compassion for that brutalized population or the
well-being of the millions of people whose lives he has endangered in the region.
But it is difficult to propose a solution to this continuing
problem. Why is that? Why have years of talks ended fruitlessly? Why have
threats, promises, enticements and material rewards had no effect on the behavior
of the dictator in Pyongyang?
While Tokyo has been busy lobbying the region to censure Pyongyang
over the tests and to back sanctions against the North Korean regime, and while
the United States has been busy arranging things at the U.N. Security Council, what has China's
response been?
"China and North Korea are friendly neighbors," said Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman [Jiang Yu].
"North Korea's firing of missiles has no relationship to
China," the spokeswoman later said, adding: "We hope to see diplomatic
tensions resolved diplomatically and through dialogue and consultation."
If insincere banalities can resolve intractable international
security issues, then China is doing a wonderful job of dealing with Pyongyang.
If Beijing sincerely believes that North Korea's actions have "no
relationship to China," then why is it involved in Six Party talks?
Exactly when will the international community recognize that the
key to solving the North Korea problem is to bring pressure to bear on Beijing,
not Pyongyang?
North Korea is a basket case, where human beings are treated as
less than chattel and the economy is based primarily on foreign aid. How could
such a travesty of a nation stand without support from China?
It isn't exactly a secret that most of North Korea's missile and
nuclear technology was obtained from or with the assistance of China. And one
doesn't need to be an expert in international relations to understand that
Beijing is using Pyongyang as a tool to serve its own ends. The mystery is why the
international community allows this state of affairs to continue.
The Six Party talks have been a failure. Of the countries
involved, only two actually see North Korea as a threat: Japan and the U.S.
South Korea's policy toward its northern neighbor is simply too mired in
internal politics to be of any use on an international level. Russia is taking
part - to borrow a phrase from George Mallory - "because it's there."
And China doesn't want the situation resolved. The ongoing
"crisis" is much more useful to Beijing as a vehicle it can use to
portray itself as a regional player. North Korea also complicates and
frustrates the U.S. in its role as guarantor of regional security, enabling Beijing
to set the stage for its own rise to regional power.
What is needed is an alliance of regional states with shared
values and interests. In short, what is needed is a regional alliance of
democracies with real security clout.
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It may seem hopelessly naive to envision an organization in the
Asia-Pacific that works along the lines of NATO, given the failure of SEATO 
and the downgrading of the ANZUS Alliance . It may seem even more
naive to say that, as a democratic state with an advanced military and a
powerful economy, Taiwan could add a lot to such an organization.
But it is no less naive than believing that another round of Six
Party talks hosted by Beijing is going to resolve the North Korean crisis.
[SLIDE SHOW: North Korea Missile Launch].
