Hu Knows Wen?

After it was proven beyond any doubt that North Korea was responsible for attacking and sinking a South Korean corvette, which killed 46 sailors, civilized nations around the world took immediate and resolute action to punish those responsible.

---

They went before the United Nations Security Council to ask that august body to punish North Korea by imposing “sanctions” (whatever those are) on the renegade kingdom of madness. Only problem is that the Security Council can do little in the way of sanctions, given that China, which holds a permanent seat on the council and thus the right to veto, is disinclined to punish its protégée, North Korea in any meaningful way. At a meeting over the weekend in Seogwip, South Korea, China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao expressed reluctance to actually do anything about its client state’s poor behavior and told a press conference that his main interest was to “defuse” this “tense situation” to help “promote peace and stability” in the Korean Peninsula. Until the next time the little madman running North Korea ups the ante. For the West, this is the perfect dodge, the ideal “it’s not my problem,” as they dump the inconvenient task of bringing the North into line on China’s doorstep. What makes the lily-livered Western politicians think that China wants to actually do something about Kim Jong Il’s actions? If China really wanted North Korea to actually behave in a civil manner, then they would long ago have boxed Kim’s ears and forced him to mend his ways. It is in China’s interest to keep North Korea keyed up to a wartime footing with occasional transgressive forays against all its “enemies” just to let the world know they aren’t kidding. This also serves as a bellwether to enable the Chinese leadership to test the mettle of Western leadership. So long as Western nations are outraged by North Korea’s outrages, China can quietly assume the mantle of superpower without too much opposition from other nations. For decades the West fought proxy wars with communist countries, Viet Nam being among the most notable. These proxy wars are now continuing at an entirely different level, but the stakes remain equally high. When North Korea invaded the south in June of 1950 Western reaction was swift and resolute. Taking advantage of a soviet boycott of the Security Council, the Council passed a resolution calling for military action against North Korea, thus launching the Korean War. Within 4 months allied troops were confined to a very small pocket, the Pusan Perimeter, and stood to be pushed into the sea. However, Gen. Douglas McArthur ordered an amphibious landing at Inchon behind the enemy’s lines and the allies eventually pushed the North Koreans back into the north, almost to the Chinese border. China then entered the war in support of North Korea and a seesaw series of engagements ended with Chinese and North Korean troops being pushed back beyond the 38th Parallel. Thus in July of 1953 a truce was declared returning all parties to their starting point. Just over a year ago North Korea unilaterally withdrew from the truce, which in effect was a de facto redeclaration of war. Given that successive US administrations have been content to react to aggression on the part of communist dictatorships through military actions that result in maintaining an a priori status quo, the idea that China would now do anything to curtail North Korea’s aggression toward its neighbors is absurd. In fact, it’s so absurd it falls within the realm of brain damaged. Chinese President Hu Jintao is a shrewd strategist who knows which way the fortune cookie crumbles. And right now it’s crumbling into our lap, as the West’s monumental lack of leadership will continue to ensure that North Korea can act with impunity.