Comment: North Korea brings US and China closer

North Korea’s latest outburst of nuclear and military threats has given the US a rare opportunity to build bridges with China.

The architect of the administration’s Asia policy described a subtle change in Chinese thinking as a result of Pyongyang’s recent nuclear tests, rocket launches and abandonment of the armistice that ended the 1950-53 war with South Korea.

Pyongyang has taken similar actions in the past, prompting Washington to increase military readiness in the region to soothe allies South Korea and Japan. But in an unusual rebuke this week, Beijing called North Korea’s moves “regrettable” – amounting to a slap from the country’s strongest economic and diplomatic supporter. “They, I think, recognise the actions that North Korea has taken in recent months and years are in fact antithetical to their own national security interests,” former assistant secretary of state Kurt Campbell said.

For now, the crisis has given new importance to the White House’s decision to bolster the US’s economic and security presence in a region that for years was sidelined as a priority by war and terrorism in the Middle East and North Africa. Much of the policy has centred on China, both in strengthening diplomatic ties and economic trade. But China is an unreliable ally and has been suspicious about the US, which it sees as economic competition on its own turf.

North Korea has made an almost daily string of threats toward the US, South Korea and Japan, but officials in Seoul and Washington agree there are no signs Pyongyang is preparing for a full-scale conflict. Much of this is seen as an effort to strengthen loyalty among citizens and the military for North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong-un. But US and UN sanctions after the February nuclear test fuelled tensions and began the unusually high level of threats.

China historically has been lax in enforcing international sanctions against the North. But in what the US took as a positive development, China signed on to stiffer measures in the latest round of UN Security Council sanctions, and there are initial indications that it’s increasing cargo inspections.

North Korea’s anger is also a response to annual US-South Korean military drills that, intentional or not, antagonise the North. Patrick Cronin, a senior state department official during the George W Bush administration, said Beijing was helping set up back-channel negotiations with North Korea to ease the tensions. But ultimately, he said, the US wasn’t likely to succeed in winning China over as a reliable partner against North Korea beyond the current crisis.