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China’s Bottom Line on North Korea Nuclear Issue: The Security and Stability of Northeast China

In a commentary on North Korea’s nuclear crisis, Global Times, a newspaper under People’s Daily, published an article giving China’s bottom line if the U.S. chooses to challenge the North Korean regime unilaterally. The article stated:

“If the U.S. wants to solve North Korea’s nuclear issue, it is necessary to reduce the differences among the peripheral countries and form some key consensus. At the same time, it must also open up channels of communication with Pyongyang and leave some open space to allow the pressure on North Korea to take effect.”

“China hopes that the North Korean nuclear issue gets resolved as soon as possible. However, no matter what happens, China has a bottom line. China will protect China’s Northeast territory at all costs for its safety and stability. Related to this, North Korea’s nuclear activities must not cause any pollution in Northeast China. In addition, North Korea cannot go through the kind of turmoil that will produce a massive output of refugees. On the other side of the Yalu River, it cannot have a regime hostile to China. The U.S. military cannot march to the Yalu River.”

“If Washington wants to strengthen cooperation with Beijing to solve the North Korea nuclear issue, its policy should not be against China’s above concerns.”

Source: Global Times, April 5, 2017
http://mil.huanqiu.com/observation/2017-04/10425899.html