U.S. CALLING CHINA TO THE COURT – WILL IT DO ANY GOOD?

Today’s Washington Post has the story, “U.S. Says China Should Prod N. Korea on Talks,” which does report the president’s position, even if trying to blame him at the same time;

The Bush administration blamed China yesterday for not doing enough to cajole North Korea back to nuclear talks… Undersecretary of State Robert Joseph, who recently replaced John R. Bolton… said China, which is a close ally of North Korea and which supplies the impoverished state with oil and food, needs to do more to get Pyongyang back into the negotiations. “The Chinese can exert more influence,” he said. “China has to make a decision how to influence North Korea. It has a number of tools.” [emphasis added]

This is the right thing to do, since only China does have the only tool, besides appeasement, that will work with North Korea: energy. However, it is unlikely that China will use this tool without some very heavy pressure from the U.S. Cutting off North Korea’s oil could destabilize the North even more, and threaten collapse. China does not want this, since China does not want even the possibility of U.S. troops on its boarder. It will depend on just how much pressure Bush is willing to put on China, but I do not think it will be enough.

In related news, the South won the honor of giving North Korea something for nothing, and the James Kelly gives the rest of the story concerning some of Don Oberdorfer’s recent criticisms of the Bush administration. Looking at both sides, and being intimately familiar with the events of 2002, I think Oberdorfer is letting his politics cloud his judgment on this one.