The US wants China to curb North Korea. But can it? And would Beijing even want to?

Name: Raising the stakes: How North Korea became a nuclear state
Uploaded: 2022-11-23T07:15:14.000Z
Duration: 2 min 44 s
Description: Raising the stakes: How North Korea became a nuclear state

Washington thinks ‘Beijing has a role to play’ in curbing Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions by using its influence over the hermit state

Yet observers are doubtful that China has the power – or inclination – to rein in an old ally it has long seen as a useful buffer to the US

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A photo provided by the North Korean state news agency shows the launch of what it said was a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile last week. Photo: KCNA/dpa

Reuters

Published: 3:15pm, 23 Nov 2022

US President Joe Biden last week asked his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, if he could try to talk North Korea out of a new nuclear weapon test – but he acknowledged that he did not know if China had the capacity to do so.

As unpredictable North Korea builds its arsenal of nuclear weapons and the missiles to fire them across Asia and at the United States, the question of China’s ability to rein in its old ally has taken on particular urgency.

But with tension simmering between the US and China, especially over Taiwan, the issue may not only be if China has the ability to influence North Korea’s behaviour, but to what extent it is in Beijing’s interests to tame a neighbour it has long seen as a useful buffer to the US.

“From China’s … perspective, North Korea can serve as a force multiplier to challenge America’s position in the Pacific,” said Craig Singleton, a former US government official now with the Foundation for Defence of Democracies. “Simply put, the more countries willing to challenge or complicate the US-led security order in the Indo-Pacific, the better.”

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Raising the stakes: How North Korea became a nuclear state

North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday last week, just as leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum were gathering in Bangkok.