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Hong Kong Oriental Daily News Commentary: Beijing Assisted Pyongyang to Resist Peaceful Transformation

On June 25, Hong Kong Oriental Daily News published a commentary report that was titled, “Beijing Assisted Pyongyang to Resist the Peaceful Transformation.” Below is a translation of the commentary.

Following the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore, Kim Jong Un made his third visit to China in less than 100 days. During his meeting with Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping delivered the following three commitments: No matter how the international and regional situations change, the firm position of the Chinese government and the Party to engage in the development of China-DPRK relations will not change; the Chinese people’s friendship with the Korean people will not change; and China’s support for socialist North Korea will not change. Among the three “no change” commitments, the first two are relatively vague but the last one, “China’s support for socialist North Korea will not change,” carries more substance. It means that, on the issue of the reunification of South Korea and North Korea that may take place in the future, Beijing will be on the side of socialist North Korea. This is in response to the fact that, when the U.S. and South Korea have tried to denuclearize in the Korean Peninsula and achieve permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, some people have always wanted to use force or “peaceful transformation” to get rid of the Pyongyang regime. The U.S. and South Korea have always wanted Pyongyang to repeat how West Germany reunited with East Germany.

This is the biggest concern for the Kim family. For more than 20 years, Pyongyang has been desperately trying to develop nuclear weapons with the purpose of just protecting the regime’s lifeblood. For this reason, they will not hesitate to fight a nuclear war. Now that Pyongyang has nuclear weapons, it uses its military power to protect its regime while warning Uncle Sam not to act irrationally. Going forward, Pyongyang should be particularly on guard against the “sugar cannonballs” that the U.S. and South Korea have launched when dealing with peace issues. In this regard, the former Soviet Union and the European Socialist camp suffered painful lessons. China, on the other hand, has had very rich political, economic, military, cultural, and diplomatic experiences and opposing methods. Therefore Kim Jong-un should seriously learn and consult with China.

As for Beijing, it ought to understand Kim Jong-un’s concerns fully and should try to dispel his worries. Only in this way can Pyongyang “put aside burdens and move forward with lightness.” Then it can deal with the U.S., Japan, and South Korea to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and secure a peaceful environment for a long time to come.

This kind of situation is in line with China’s strategic interests and will help China win more time and space for peaceful development before it can come back to counter the U.S..

Source: Oriental Daily News, June 25, 2018
http://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/commentary/20180625/bkn-20180625000424038-0625_00832_001_cn.html