China's Opportunity to Defuse Trump

China - the political masters of that country, to be precise - well understands that the North Koreans' unexpectedly rapid development of nuclear weapons capability is largely their fault; or, at the very least, their default.

The 'received wisdom' in foreign ministries around the world is that China is now locked in to a crisis that it has allowed to happen. China has limited [and 'interpreted'] UN sanctions in a way that has allowed the Kim regime to survive; most notably by allowing petroleum products to enter the country. This is said to be due to China's terror at what would happen if the regime collapsed. Starvation and anarchy would be very quick results of the collapse. There is said to be a fear that in such circumstances South Korea would step in to supply the people of the north, and thus be on the way to 'reunifying' the country on a capitalist basis: which would be anathema to China, and a great shame for the president who has begun to permit the media to liken him to the [still-sacrosanct] Chairman Mao.

More likely is the scenario that the regime would be able to tighten its grip even as the cessation of food and energy supplies [in a savage winter] picked off millions of already undernourished people. In such circumstances the rhetoric against the USA, as the perceived authors of the country's misfortunes [due to sanctions], would increase: and with it the prospect of nuclear adventurism from the Kim regime. The naive narcissist in the White House has recently had his image toned down by the largely-military cohort who now surround him. With the strong assistance of the Secretary of State, he can often appear reasonable; and this makes it unlikely that in the near future he could be declared unfit to continue in office. Thus the risk of a first strike by the US increases. The recent threat by the North Koreans to detonate a hydrogen bomb 'over the Pacific' has increased the probability of disaster greatly.

Were the US to deploy nuclear weapons against North Korea [and so far they are the only power to have done this in a real war] the fallout would certainly reach China, Russia and South Korea. This prospect is imminent.

There is an obvious solution. China has facilitated the North Korean weapons programme, and done nothing effective to tame the regime: or even its rhetoric. President Xi can stand tall as a statesman comparable with [and morally much superior to] Mao, by taking drastic, swift action. China should first seal the frontier with North Korea: then send in overwhelming forces to occupy the country. As it does so, it should call on the United Nations to send in a control team to supervise the neutralisation of the nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

As soon as those conditions are met, a joint command formed by - and led by - China, comprising the permanent members of the Security Council with the other 'brics' [India, Brazil and - perhaps - South Korea] should establish the preconditions for a reformation of the North Korean state. A safe haven could be offered to the dictator, perhaps in Switzerland which he knows from his schooldays: there is no reason to believe that he is mad, and assurances of personal security might be acceptable. Of course, for as long as lives, wherever he lives, victims of his regime and their children will [understandably] wish him harm: so he will never live in secure comfort.

Such a resolution would completely overcome Trump's posturing and rhetoric. It is arguably President Xi's duty to resolve the drastic dilemma that his country's hesitancy has fostered: and it can be the basis for real greatness.