China registers fear over its unruly neighbor North Korea

A report filed by the NBC News stated that the timing of North Korea’s recent nuclear test managed, once again, to embarrass its only ally in the diplomatic world: China. According to the report, it was particularly unfortunate for China’s President, Xi Jinping.

The test took place hours before Xi took the stage as host of the BRICS summit of major emerging economies — a meeting meant to showcase Beijing as a global player. This was not the first time, according to the report, where North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has rattled the Chinese leader: missile tests upstaged at least two other major events for Xi this year.

“Obviously, it is an insult to China,” said Cheng Xiaohe, an international politics professor at Beijing’s Renmin University. “Every time… they put China in an awkward situation that turns the conflict between North Korea and the rest of the world into a conflict between China and the U.S.”

As North Korea’s primary patron, China finds itself at the center of the problem. President Donald Trump has repeatedly pressured China to use its leverage to rein in the North. This is why after Sunday’s test, he tweeted that North Korea had become “a great threat and embarrassment to China,” then followed it up with a threat to cut trade with any country doing business with the regime.

Reacting to the statement, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry called Trump’s trade tweet “unacceptable.” Yet, it is reported that the regime’s tests and escalating rhetoric have also infuriated Beijing, by calling into question its credibility to control Kim.

Officially, China’s position remains the same: The only solution is for both sides to back down, and for dialogue. But editorials in government-controlled newspapers and academic forums, which typically reflect what the leadership here is thinking, there is a noticeable shift in tone and more hawkish viewpoints are emerging.

“It’s time to get rid of all the emotions and be a thorough realist on the North Korea issue,” wrote current affairs commentator Li Fang on the popular WeChat social media platform. “Sanctions are not working, and wars are more terrifying than before… The key is to figure out what to do next.”

China holds the key: It supplies about 80 percent of the regime’s oil and fuel oil, much of it through the so-called “Friendship Pipeline” that runs under the Yalu River separating Dandong, China from Sinuiju, North Korea.

“If Washington and Seoul cannot solve the crisis and instead place China at the forefront of this situation, they will only mess up the peninsula issue,” said an editorial in Monday’s Global Times, a state-run newspaper and website that frequently publishes nationalistic columns on international affairs. Adding that, “China is the main external victim of the North Korean nuclear crisis.”