The tensions from the most recent spouting of what is hopefully another set of empty threats from North Korea this weekend has earned the Hermit Kingdom a military display from both China and the US. The latter of the two is more known with the deployment of an aircraft carrier, the response from China is much less known, but has occurred more often than the American reaction until now. You see, every time North Korea pulls one of these stunts that threatens the stability, the PLA (China’s military) moves troops to the provinces around the Yalu River (the border China and North Korea share) and stops importing North Korean goods. That’s right, North Korea’s biggest danger to the country from the outside (the loony running the show being the biggest threat to the nation) is not the United States, but China, and why?
Anyone with a functioning brain knows that these two states are both considered communist states, but the relationship between the two is not that of two cooperating countries, but rather a mother dealing with a menace for a child while the neighbors threaten to act if she doesn’t curb that kid’s behavior. With the mostly pro-western actions that China has been taking towards the Hermit Kingdom in recent years, I am sure that the mother is getting fed up with her kid’s unruly behavior.
So, in case you were wondering, the People’s Liberation Army consists of over 2.2 million service men, or just shy of 10 percent of North Korea’s estimated population. Sure, an army of that size poses a threat to any nation, but that is not the biggest way China can bring their rogue neighbor to heel. In fact, the most powerful card China can play against the state isn’t with a stick, but rather it can cut off North Korea from vital amenities like food and electricity. You see, China has the largest stake in supplying Kim Jong Un’s state with food and energy, without which would make life for most North Koreans even more miserable. That being said, the electrical situation within the DPRK is beyond subpar with brownouts and blackouts happening frequently.
The cut in electricity provided by China would probably further push the state into making rash and dangerous decisions that could lead into an all-out conflict on the peninsula or even strike back at China which is also political suicide. The result of which would mean a massive influx of North Korean refugees fleeing into China, putting a burden on its less developed northern provinces, a problem which the CCP does not want to deal with. The other more positive outcome of this is maybe Kim Jong Un grows a brain and reads the writing on the wall before it’s too late. However, I would not want to put too much stock in that happening since the US and North Korea have been in this nuclear pissing contest for at least a decade now. There have been many changes in the last decade, but of all the outside changes I think China’s ever pro-western stance is the most significant.
