Is There A Point When China Will Abandon North Korea

Bloomberg: China's Xi Grapples With Rising Cost of Backing Kim Jong Un

* War of words brings new threat of war to country’s doorstep
* Beijing opposes any change to status quo on Korean Peninsula

It’s getting harder for Chinese President Xi Jinping to maintain support for wayward ally North Korea.

For weeks, Xi has been caught in the middle as leader Kim Jong Un lobbed intercontinental ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan and U.S. President Donald Trump vented his frustration with warnings of “fire and fury.” China has urged calm while backing tighter sanctions against North Korea to ward off U.S. threats of punitive tariffs and military strikes.

The prospect of nuclear war has sparked a debate in Beijing about maintaining support for the Kim dynasty, which dates back to the Korean War in the 1950s. The two countries have grown apart over the decades, with China opening up to become the world’s second-biggest economy while North Korea has become more isolated and impoverished.

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WNU Editor: Current U.S. - China trade is about $575 billion, with a balance of about $300 billion in favour of China. Current Chinese - North Korean trade is about $3 billion. To me .... there is no value for China to continue supporting North Korea .... even acting as a buffer between China and South Korea. My prediction .... China has evolved tremendously in its relationship with North Korea .... and eventually it will discard North Korea. But I give it another decade or two before that happens.

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