Goodness, this is about the most obtuse action I’ve ever seen our government take – and I’m old enough to remember the Carter Administration. From ABC:
A White House official tells ABC News that the U.S. is going to spend a great deal of effort trying to get China to take a more “robust” stand against North Korea’s actions.
“We need to send a strong signal to the Chinese that they need to stand up to North Korea,” the official says…
Stand up to North Korea? Stand up? For goodness sake, the only reason North Korea exists is because it serves China’s strategic interests! While we can’t say that the attack was hatched in Beijing, there is just about zero chance it happened without Chinese approval. Such a move by the United States would be akin to our asking China to curb North Vietnam in the aftermath of the Tet Offensive. The world learns: the United States is unwilling to defend its interests and goes begging the Chinese to pull our fat out of the fire.
The proper stance to take regarding this North Korean attack is to quietly inform the Chinese that upon the next attack there will be massive retaliation against North Korea by both South Korean and American forces. That we will attempt to de-capitate the regime and will go after the security forces infrastructure, thus weakening the North Korean government’s ability to suppress their own people. That is the kind of message which would give China pause and may lead to North Korea being put on a tighter leash..asking the Chinese to curb North Korea merely telegraphs to them that we are unwilling to take stern measures, and thus just invites further outrages.
This is the “smart diplomacy” which Obama brings to the table – a fool’s paradise where it is imagined that China is a nation the United States can rely upon to advance American and allied interests. Complete and utter idiocy, that is what it is.
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