Korea nuke opera: China agrees to sanction a barbarian

[unhappycamper]

http://atimes.com/2016/03/korea-nuke-opera-china-agrees-to-sanction-a-barbarian/

Korea nuke opera: China agrees to sanction a barbarian
By Kongdan Oh on March 11, 2016

For thousands of years the Chinese have thought of themselves as inhabiting the very center of the civilized world.

Foreigners were barbarians. The Chinese were satisfied to live in isolation from that inferior world, and only wanted the barbarians to leave them alone. In order to keep peace in their neighborhood, Chinese emperors would arrange tributary relations with neighboring states, who would acknowledge their supremacy in return for their protection. To prevent barbarian powers from ganging up on China, the Chinese would try to play off one barbarian against another. In the nineteenth century, Chinese scholar Wei Yuan referred to this long-standing balance-of-powers foreign policy as yiyizhiyi: “using barbarians to control barbarians.”

China’s ‘barbarian’ neighbors

Today, China’s closest neighbors to the east are the two Koreas, neither of which can be called a tributary state. The South Korean and Chinese economies are mutually dependent. In 2014, 6.1 million Chinese traveled to South Korea for shopping and entertainment, and 4 million Koreans chose China as their favorite tourism destination. South Koreans admire the economic progress Chinese have made and recognize their similar cultures, although they view China warily, especially in regard to China’s territorial claims on the East Sea. South Korean and Chinese leaders meet regularly.

North Korea, immediately bordering on China, has been a perennial problem for the Chinese. The two countries share similar political systems, although North Korea’s is dynastically inclined, and they were allies in the Korean War. However, North Korea’s economy has become almost totally dependent on China’s and the North Koreans are more suspicious than friendly toward the Chinese. Since assuming power in 2011, North Korea’s leader has never had a summit meeting with the Chinese leader. The Chinese are particularly upset that the North Koreans keep provoking their neighbors, especially with weapons of mass destruction, thus threatening the peace of the neighborhood.