China will not step in to save North Korea if the Pyongyang regime collapses or starts a war, a retired People’s Liberation Army general said, possibly signaling waning patience in Beijing with its wayward, nuclear-armed ally.
“China is not a savior,” Wang Hongguang (王洪光), formerly deputy commander of the Nanjing military region, wrote in the Global Times newspaper, which is close to the Chinese Communist Party.
“Should North Korea really collapse, not even China can save it,” he said.
His comments were made in a contribution to the paper’s Chinese-language Web site on Monday.
The outspoken Wang has made critical comments about North Korea before and it was not clear whether his words indicated a policy shift regarding Pyongyang.
China has long been the isolated North’s key ally and aid provider.
Beijing came to the fledgling country’s aid during the 1950-to-1953 Korean War, when its intervention against US-led UN forces defending South Korea helped seal an eventual stalemate that has lasted to this day.
China’s role has grown as the North’s economy has shrunk in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union almost a quarter of a century ago, with which Pyongyang had close trade and aid ties.
However, over the same period, Beijing has moved to develop diplomatic relations and booming trade ties with Seoul, Pyongyang’s bitter rival. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and South Korean President Park Geun-hye have exchanged visits, while Xi and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have so far kept their distance.
Wang said China would not get involved in any new war on the Korean Peninsula.
“China cannot influence the situation on the Korean Peninsula. China has no need to light a fire and get burnt,” he said. “Whoever provokes a conflagration bears responsibility. Now there is no more ‘socialist camp.’ It is not necessary for China’s younger generation to fight a war for another country.”
Wang criticized the North for its nuclear development, using it as an example of how its interests can differ from China’s and saying it had “already brought about the serious threat of nuclear contamination in China’s border area.”
However, he also criticized Western countries for what he described as “demonizing” North Korea and interfering in its internal affairs in the name of human rights.
“China absolutely does not meddle,” he wrote.
Beijing would “support what should be supported and oppose what should be opposed” regarding the North, he said, indicating China was not ready to completely give up on its troublesome neighbor.
China would neither “court” nor “abandon” North Korea, he wrote.
“This should be China’s basic attitude,” he added.
SPEAKING OUT: After Siranudh Scott’s allegations surfaced, celebrities and public figures took to social media to share their own experiences of sexual misconduct and abuse A high-profile alleged sexual abuse case within a wealthy Thai beer brewing family has prompted a wave of painful accounts from survivors of unconnected abuse in the conservative nation. Siranudh Scott, a member of the billionaire Thai family that founded the ubiquitous Singha beer brand, posted an emotional video this month accusing his elder brother Sunit of repeatedly abusing him when he was a teenager. Sunit, who is in his 30s, later denied the allegations in a video posted online, but Singha parent Boonrawd dismissed him from his executive role with the company on Tuesday last week. “I felt I needed to speak
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
COMMUNITY CONFLICT: Concerns about disease spread from corpses has run up against friends and families’ desire to bury their dead as infection spreads in the area Angry residents of a town at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) attacked and burned a tent that was part of a health center where people are being treated for the virus, the staff there said Saturday. It was the second such attack in the region in a week. No one was hurt in the attack, according to reports but as patients ran out to escape the fire, 18 people with suspected Ebola infections fled the facility and are unaccounted for, a hospital director said. Angry residents arrived at the clinic in the
Forecasters in Europe yesterday warned of exceptional heat as record temperatures driven by a “heat dome” push temperatures well above seasonal norms across the continent. The surge follows a record-breaking Monday, with France logging its hottest day in the month of May on record, its weather agency said, and the UK also posting unprecedented highs. A so-called “heat dome” of warm air from northern Africa trapped under a high-pressure system over western Europe is behind the high temperatures not usually seen until high summer. Restrictions on outdoor work were imposed in parts of Italy, beaches in southwest France filled earlier than usual and
RSS