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Will China Take Over North Korea?
What the mystery of the missing Kim Jong Il could mean.
Kim Jong Il suffered a stroke last month, died in 2003, or is in perfectly good health at this moment, all according to recent reports. We will one day know which one of them is true, but by then it may be too late. Why? The events of the last few days could be setting the stage for China to eventually absorb North Korea.
First, the facts. Yesterday, Kim did not attend the military celebrations in Pyongyang to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. His absence fueled rumors of his poor condition, spread by a senior U.S. intelligence official, that the North Korean suffered a stroke in the last few weeks. A South Korean official in Beijing was quoted as saying that Mr. Kim collapsed on August 22. A team of five Chinese doctors have been reported to be attending to him since late last month.
Today, Kim Yong Nam, often described as Pyongyang’s No. 2 leader, said there is “no problem” with his boss’s condition. This follows other denials from high-ranking regime members. “We see such reports as not only worthless, but rather as a conspiracy plot,” said senior diplomat Song Il Ho, referring to rumors of Kim Jong Il’s poor health. “Western media have reported falsehood before.”
Many times, in fact. Some analysts argue there is less going on than meets the eye in the DPRK, as the North Koreans like to call their miserable little nation. “The starting point on all this should be that we don’t know diddly about what is going on inside that closed country,” says Brad Glosserman of the Pacific Forum in Honolulu. “Kim has a tendency to drop out of sight when there is a tough decision to make.” All the well-known Korea expert says is true — Kim Jong Il now faces a series of especially tough decisions about surrendering his nuclear weapons. And, as a general matter, it is hard to find significance in anything the world’s strangest national leader does not do. After all, he is even known for not showing up at celebrations of his own birthday.
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Gordon G. Chang is the author of Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On the World and The Coming Collapse of China.
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45 Comments
1. Andrew X:No expert I, but I simply cannot imagine any worse scenario for North Korea, the US, or the world, than the current government that now exists there. If the PLA marched into North Korea, I’d send a bottle of bubbly to the commander.
Were that to happen, China would own NoKo. Fine by me. That’s kinda like me inheriting twenty glorious and valuable acres of toxic waste dump. Now I have to clean it ($$$$$) before it’s worth anything at all, AND I get a major tax burden ($$$$$) right from the get go anyway, and THEN I find out that a neighbor thinks he has a claim to it anyway, and has relatives there right now with squatters rights. In a nutshell, no frickin’ thanks.
I cannot imagine that China’s strategic or financial position would really improve all that much by owning North Korea, unless they plan genuine war on the South, and if that is true, they could probably get into NoKo right now anyway to do it.
Bottom line… all yours, guys. The unfortunate residents of that cursed land could not possibly, in any fathomable way, shape, or form be worse off than they are now, and I really don’t think the US would be strategically any worse for it.
Sep 10, 2008 - 5:24 pm 2. Brian in Ohio:On the news I saw, two things were inportant.
A. There were NO pics of ‘Dear Leader’ in the parade footage released by the DPRK…only of the dead father ‘Great Leader’.
B. press reports stated that those units on parade were RESERVE Units…what happend, for the first time I might add, to the Regular Army units?
Sep 10, 2008 - 5:27 pm 3. Fat Man:No. The Chinese don’t want NoKo. They just don’t want its population running north over the Yalu and clogging up cities in North China. NoKo is a mess and will be expensive to fix. The Chinese will be just as happy to stick SoKo with the bill.
Sep 10, 2008 - 6:14 pm 4. Snoop-Diggity-DANG-Dawg:“…China would own NoKo. Fine by me.”
No kidding, brother. Good God, why would the West want control over that 22 million-man psych ward? Take her China, she’s yours…
I bet South Korea would even demure at this point.
Talk about lipstick on a pig….*sheesh*
Sep 10, 2008 - 6:19 pm 5. deguello:The syphillis went tertiary and either killed hin(hopefully),or has incapacitated him.
Sep 10, 2008 - 6:36 pm 6. Gordon G. Chang:Andrew X, you make good points. The Chinese should prefer to control North Korea than own it. Nonetheless, they have displayed a desire to incorporate territory into China, and so, whether it makes sense or not, they will go for it if they have the opportunity. Sometimes nations do not make the best decisions for themselves.
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:01 pm 7. harry:China could not allow the potential increase in power to a neighboring state it does not control. While the first days of a united Korea may be difficult the potential increase in GDP would pose a threat to China further down the road. Add the nukes NK has and put into SK’s (the west’s) hands and China becomes very nervous. As long as they control NK they will shoulder the cost and keep control of NK.
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:29 pm 8. jnc:I can see the protests X years hence with a feeble Richard Gere hunched over a walker – a sign tacked on the front that reads:
China: Free Korea!
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:40 pm 9. Gregory:All to the better then. I never really understood my kin in China, not even when Cousin Jiang (yes, I’m a Jiang) was in power. Let them be saddled with making dumb decisions.
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:46 pm 10. Dark Helmet:Chang, you make sense. I might add that the chinese are methodical. I see them letting sk take it over, clean it up and then ‘intervene’ to protect it. Let the dumbasses do the work for you and then take it. sk needs to stand on it’s own after 50 plus years anyway…..
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:48 pm 11. David P:A better question would be, who would or could stop China from taking over N. Korea?
Sep 10, 2008 - 7:57 pm 12. Javelin:So now we are all supposed to fret over yet another far away country. Wow, the world is full of bad evil people and we must devote ourselves to ridding the world of evil countries and their people too.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:25 pm 13. Sidney Raphael:No seriously, they will not use military force and there is no indication that they are massing forces, so why all this talkng head flatulence, cept to rile up the militaristic fools? It isn’t Chinese style, they would rather control indirectly. The North Koreans are mobilized, armed and dug in to the hilt, they would be no easy walkover for the Chinese. Formosa, however is considered by them to be part of China, and they have yet to move against them militarily.
Will Korea return to the ancient practice of sending 3000 virgins a year to China when the Chinese takeover becomes official?
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:38 pm 14. epsilon:It’d make a great gulag for China’s political prisoners, uppity Tibetans, etc. Already set up and ready to use.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:45 pm 15. Gordon G. Chang:David P, excellent question. At this moment, the answer is no one. The Bush administration is incapable of putting the hard word on the Chinese.
Sep 10, 2008 - 8:58 pm 16. Dark Helmet:No body is going to cross over any no mans land where the USA is on the other side and live to tell about it.
china will wait to take it over once it’s been re united and the heavy lifting is done by the locals. Then a puppet that has strings that lead north will set it.
javelin tooth pick, the talking heads called, they said your bath is ready, don’t forget your toaster.
Sep 10, 2008 - 9:38 pm 17. god:The Chinese are getting a lot smarter politically. They have big internal problems, but they know their capabilities.
Should the U.S. be concerned?
Forget the military aspects. Continue trading with China and the Koreas, or everyone else in the globe. Commerce and diplomacy are more powerful than anything else to “control” other countries. I guess everyone forgot what happened in Europe after WWII: Marshall Plan, remember?
The U.S. could be easily controlled by the Chinese by receiving the huge investments they are making in real estate, loans to pay for oil, manufactured products, college graduates, etc.
The World has shrunk. We are 300M people in a world of 6 billion . . .
That’s why I will vote for the presidential candidates that have VISION and leadership.
Sep 10, 2008 - 10:29 pm 18. William Shin:By Korean Constitute Law (I am south Korea people), NK territory is now being occupied by illegal communists for over 60 years.
Now it is time to Our Legitimate Korean Government one and only in the world after Japan Invasion sice 1910 – 1045, for recovering our territory asap.. Hope Our allyies including USA helping us one more time… it is also useful for USA citizenes for world peace keeping….
Do not think your tax is wasted.. Some bully contry like CHINA overtake NK is more threat to USA and its citizenship..
B-2 B-1 F22 from GUAM USA defense army must ally with Our Korean AIR FORCE for bombard PUYNG YANG~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sep 10, 2008 - 10:51 pm 19. god:William Shin 9/10 10:51 pm:
Why do you have to solve everything with wars and killing people? You had 60 years to figure it out. Why not go to the United Nations? You have to learn how to deal with them. If the communists are “illegal”, how can hey be brought to comply with whatever law they broke?
And if you need help, there are many other countries besides the U.S.A.
Sep 11, 2008 - 1:36 am 20. cedarford:Were that to happen, China would own NoKo. Fine by me. That’s kinda like me inheriting twenty glorious and valuable acres of toxic waste dump.
China won’t ever want to annex N Korea. Far better they control all the unutilized natural resources the NORKs have failed to get in production because no one will invest there.
Let S Korea pay for reclaiming the dump, given they want Reunification with the “cousins”. Meanwhile, China, if it does control the place through generals they have cultivated, have likely 30 years to seriously work on ripping the mineral wealth of the nation away to fuel China’s inexhaustible needs..
And the US might just be fine with that scheme, and not just because Bush let China destroy so many jobs and get in hock so much to Chinese bankers that we dare not say no. If we know Chian controls the place, they also control the missiles and handful of primitive nuke warheads and the NORKs stash of nerve gas and bioweapons.
Sep 11, 2008 - 3:20 am 21. mina:Making the world a safer place.
We and the one-time occupiers the Japanese, though, would object to any Chinese annexation. As would the S Koreans, who are moving more and more to China’s sphere as America declines. Annexation would stop that S Korean trend cold.
If in the event China as you say does obsorb NK then it is eminant that the U.S. will have to rebuild its occupationary forces in the South to insure the safety of our missle defense system there. It is obvious that China’s ultimate goal is equal to the original goal of Russia, during the cold war, domoinance of the European continent only China want’s dominance of all Asia to include all bordering nations, Pacific Isles, and Southern continents such as all of South East Asia and South West Asia, and perhaps as far as parts of the Middle East and bordering countries to Russia. With this power, and resources their eyes on the final prize would then be turned northward towards the vast undeveloped lands of the Russian plains. I see this happening over the next 50 years. So as we have begun to do with middle eastern oil we will and must do with China, maintain a ring of defense around them with what are now friendly allies and cultivate more. It is too late for us to win over NK, but not some of the other bordering countries around China we must step up our initiatives beginning now. It is more likely that we could be threatened very much more so with having to speak Chinese as our primary language within the next 100 years, than we were ever threatened with having to speak German.
Sep 11, 2008 - 6:26 am 22. CoolCzech:I doubt the South Koreans would be too upset if Beijing wound up getting stuck with footing the bill for salvaging 22 million starving North Koreans. I doubt Beijing would be stupid enough to want it, either. Don’t look for them to “absorb” that particular circle of hell anytime soon.
Sep 11, 2008 - 6:27 am 23. TmjUtah:China will not allow a reunified Korea on its border. They simply cannot suvive a land border with an economically and politically successful free nation.
The secrecy surrounding Kim’s absence might be indicative of secret negotiations between the North and South.
And if the Norks do try to reunify, China will indeed attack. And we’ll fight with our allies the RoK, and the U.N. will mobilize and join the fight because China will be fighting a war of aggression.
Sorry. I made that last part up. The U.N. is twenty years past any useful function and the democracies of the world should have come up with a replacement long ago.
Sep 11, 2008 - 7:01 am 24. Gordon G. Chang:tmjUtah, you put your finger on the essential point: China does not want a unified Korea on its borders. It is willing to pay a lot to prevent that, even going so far as to absorb North Korea if it has to.
Sep 11, 2008 - 7:43 am 25. DoktorNo:Unification of NoKo and SoKo is impossible. Its not the case of Eastern and Western Germany, GDR was the richest of all Soviet satellites, and despite communist dictatorship the society was less brainwashed than ultrastalinist North Korean regime.
I don’t want even to contemplate, how much money it would take to rebuild North… South Korea’s economy would be in ruins, not mentioning the problems with integrating people from north with normal society, where people are shopping for goods, instead of reciving them from authorities.
Sep 11, 2008 - 9:18 am 26. Commentary » Blog Archive » Kim Is Ill—And Bush Is Exhausted:[...] about the time of the stroke, rumored to have occurred between August 15 and August 22, the nuclear disarmament [...]
Sep 11, 2008 - 11:13 am 27. The Korean Republic of China : The New Nixon: News and Commentary about the President, his Times, and his Legacy:[...] are poised to succeed the erratic, rogue, and ailing Kim Jong-Il, a prospect, which Gordon Chang argues, would seal the fate for the full democratization and unification of the Korean peninsula: A [...]
Sep 11, 2008 - 11:44 am 28. Shawn Dudley:China won’t tolerate a western-style democracy directly on it’s border, espeically as there’s already many pre-existing trade links between NoKor and the PRC.
As far as China intervening militarily, it’s in a much better position to do that than South Korea is. Even if South Korea could agree to “invade” NK after Kim’s fall, the DMZ is the most heavilly fortified terrain on Earth. NK’s norther border is relatiavely lightly defended, making it easy for a highly mobile PLA force to rush in. And today’s PLA is not the PLA of the 1950s, they’ve benefited significantly from the $$$ we put into their economy.
The Chinese would LOVE to have a way to demonstrate their newfound military prowess, and a direct intervention into NK in support of whoever their friends are there would play right into that. South Korea would have to choose between losing the chance for NK and all-out war with China, and the US would not fight an all-out war with China at this time.
The only option South Korea would have to get a speedy reunification would be to make it an inside job – basically if Kim is on the way out, offer him some insane amount of cash, then wisk him and his inner circle out of NK before anyone noticed. Kim can spend the rest of his pathetic life in Switzerland drining Hennessy and enjoying his concubines, while the South Korean’s get into the capital rapidly before the Chinese could react. THAT would countermove China. Doubt the South Korean’s would have the stomach for such an action, though.
Sep 11, 2008 - 12:04 pm 29. Ex-fetus:Everybody is dodging the real question. Who in their right mind WANTS North Korea? The S. Koreans don’t. The USA nor Japan does. Not sure why the Chinese would.
After all, as far as having a democracy on their border it makes no difference if the South moves north or the Chinese move south. Either way S. Korea and China end up with a common border.
Either we let them all starve to death and send in a Special ops team to turn off the lights or let the Russians have them. Russia is in an expansionist mode. As far as cause, a Russian with a passport once flew over Korea. That should be more then enough for the new, improved Kremlin as well as making the UN happy.
Another though. Why not have the UN take over? Let them move to Korea. A brutal repressive police state with a starving population should make the UN people feel right at home.
“To see the right and not to do it is cowardice.”
Sep 11, 2008 - 5:33 pm 30. cedarford:- Confucius
tmjUtah – China will not allow a reunified Korea on its border. They simply cannot suvive a land border with an economically and politically successful free nation.
You neglect that China is a spectacular economic and political success. It has been growing at a rate of 13.5% annual GDP for 12 years, standands of living, even accounting for the 300 million “excess” people not yet having means to get a good job….and polls show 86% of CHinese satisfied with their leadership and direction the nation is moving. Compared to 40% in S Korea and 28% in the USA.
China’s biggest problem is keeping desperate N Koreans out and reserving the fruits of China’s economic and political success for it’s own kind.
Ex-fetus – Who in their right mind WANTS North Korea? The S. Koreans don’t. The USA nor Japan does. Not sure why the Chinese would.
China wants it if it gets the rich storehouse of strategic minerals in N Korea and doesn’t have to spend a nickel on the NORKs getting fed or doing any nation-building. Control of N Korea, with full access by chinese businessmen and engineers to NORK resources is just about an ideal situation for them. They don’t bankrupt themselves as the US is doing trying to create new nations of “Muslim freedom-lovers”, don’t lose soldiers in the occupation force to death or severe maimings from bombs, RPGs, etc,
Sep 12, 2008 - 12:52 am 31. Biggy:@ cedarford – “China, if it does control the place through generals they have cultivated, have likely 30 years to seriously work on ripping the mineral wealth of the nation away to fuel China’s inexhaustible needs..”
@ cedarford again – “China wants it if it gets the rich storehouse of strategic minerals in N Korea and doesn’t have to spend a nickel on the NORKs getting fed or doing any nation-building. Control of N Korea, with full access by chinese businessmen and engineers to NORK resources is just about an ideal situation for them.”
You are absolutely correct. It is no secret that China consumes more raw materials than any other country on the planet… more copper, more grain, etc. The logical progression following Kim Jong-Il’s death/removal would be an annexation or control-by-proxy of NoKo strictly for resource availability in a resource scarce world of developing nation convergence.
If China were to assume some sort of puppet control over NoKo, look for the Chinese to encourage/provoke small cross-border conflicts between NoKo and SoKo to keep the RoK and the US pre-occupied and nervous.
Sep 12, 2008 - 2:18 am 32. michael:It would be an improvement over the current situation.
Sep 12, 2008 - 3:51 am 33. Ex-fetus:“China wants it if it gets the rich storehouse of strategic minerals in N Korea ”
Evidence please!
http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/2005/knmyb05.pdf
While the Norks do have valuable strategic minerals, it is hardly a treasure trove. China already has pretty much the same resources, only they won’t require the same capital outlay to develop that the Nork’s would.
I will say that might not matter. Taking North Korea to steal their graphite, copper, iron, etc. would not be logical, but then again the Chinese Government is under no obligation to be logical. Or maybe I should say that their logic isn’t the same as Western logic.
I also disagree about how the Chinese would deal with the Koreans. The Whole Olympics thingie to China was about being a major player in the 21st century. They took a beating over the Gal Fong and Tibet, so claiming that they would just stand and watch as millions of Koreans starved seems wrong to me. They don’t want the international black eye that would give them.
It will take an enormous sum of money to develop the Korean mineral resources. That same money spent in China would provide a greater return.
AS an example look at the Canadian OIL sands development. Canada is the #1 source of imported OIL for the USA. They get most of that OIL using American technology to convert OIL sands and tars to liquid OIL. That was made possible by the Environmental laws in America. So the USA paid for the Canadian development of their resources, then exported high paying jobs to Canada so we could then send them billions of dollars in exchange. It was a Clinton plan.
I don’t think the Chinese will spend billions in Korea and create good jobs there when they could spend those billions in China and create jobs for Chinese. They might, but I doubt it.
“If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion.”
Sep 12, 2008 - 8:02 am 34. North Korea: China’s New Province? « The Rhetorican:George Bernard Shaw
Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 – 1950)
[...] but Kim Jong Il is reportedly unwell. There is no heir apparent, so speculation is rampant as to what might happen to the Hermit Kingdom, including Chinese [...]
Sep 12, 2008 - 9:30 am 35. V.B. Bart:Where North Korea is concerned past is usually not only prologue, it’s a recurring nightmare on an eternal mobius. Kim has scammed the West, o.k. let’s admit it, the U.S. State Department, so often and so thoroughly that one has to conclude that said State Department must be a collection of the dimmest bulbs on the planet. As GGC notes, it is a murky business, at the best of times, trying to decipher what’s actually going on in North Korea. And now, with Kim perhaps out of the picture for whatever reason, the murk grows more opaque, and the inherent instability of the country worsens.
China wants control of North Korea, but without direct involvement on their part if at all possible. Specifically, China wants to avoid PLA involvement, and it certainly wants to avoid having to foot the huge bill for keeping North Korea afloat, let alone for rehabilitating its economy and people. China would prefer remote control that would still give it access to North Korea’s wealth of mineral deposits.
So, what to do? How to achieve these goals? First, the cadres in the North Korean military that have been cultivated by China can run the show on the spot. But what about funding? China isn’t interested. But China is subtle, and is not devoid of a sense of humor.
Here’s what I think they are up to…..
• North Korea needs a ready supply of real money (not their own home grown Super-$100 bills, as brilliant a job of counterfeiting as they are). In such circumstances, who’s a dictator gonna call? Why UNDP, of course! UNDP has a proven track record to recommend them — after all, they forked over more than $150 million in CASH without a question during their last stint in Pyongyang. And, as we’ve discovered, they’ve done similar favors for many other dictators around the world.
• Add to this the behind the scenes Chinese connection to both the UN/UNDP and North Korea embodied in the person of none other than our perennial webmeister himself, Maurice Strong. Mr. Strong was Kofi Annan’s special envoy to North Korea (setting up the original UNDP Cash-for-Kim scam?) and is in with all the players there. Mr. Strong has resided in Beijing since he was caught during the UN Oil-for-Food scandal with a check for almost $1 million from Saddam’s bagman (no fear of extradition from China). So, with Mr. Strong in town and readily available for consultation, China arranges for UNDP to fund North Korea again. This is the beauty part, and, no doubt, the source of great amusement amongst the chinese: the West, in large part the U.S., through its foolish contributions to the UN and UNDP will end up paying for the whole enterprise.
The proof in the pudding, all provided by the indispensable UNDP WATCH, and Inner City Press:
• UNDP is getting ready to re-open its outpost in Pyongyang.
• UNDP staffing for the new Pyongyang office.
• Myanmar and Iran, charter members of the Dictators’ Club, urge UNDP to return to North Korea and resume CASH operations. See here also.
Pretty neat work by China with a little help from their friends.
Sep 12, 2008 - 12:11 pm 36. Shawn Dudley:i/Who in their right mind WANTS North Korea?/
Actually, it’s irrelevant who wants NK. The point is that someone will go in there if there’s a power vaccum. In that situation there’s only two logical parties: China and South Korea.
China’s reasons are mainly strategic, and less to do with the minerals and more about further securing it’s Northeastern flank from Japan (and by extension the US).
South Korea’s reasons are mostly emotional – reunification has been touted as a political solution for many of what South Korea’s people think ills them. Even those on the left-of-center would consider reunification vital if South Korea is to rid itself of the US. If a situation occured where it looked like Reunification was possible, yet outside parties (such as China or the US) tried to prevent it, it would spark a political firestorm in SK, enough to push them to war.
As I mentioned earlier, the ROK should make Kim a Deal He Can’t Refuse. However, given the absoultely enormous dependency NK already has with China, it’s very unlikely China hasn’t already set up the pieces for their own takeover.
Sep 12, 2008 - 1:39 pm 37. Corky Boyd:It won’t be a takeover by China, all China wants is a stable buffer between it and pro-western S. Korea. A friendly military pro-communist governmernt is what they will install.
There’s not alot we can do to stop it and short term it would solve some problems for us. Both we and the Chinese want the DPRK nuclear program halted. Not because it threatens them, but it is a major thorn in the side of Japan. Above all China doesn’t want a nuclear Japan and they are on the verge of going there if the DPRK restarts their weapons program.
Long term they would probably tolerate a unified Korea in exchange for vastly fewer US troops on the peninsula.
Sep 12, 2008 - 5:50 pm 38. Herunar:“Absorb North Korea.” What cynic bullshit is this? I can’t imagine an uneducated moron like you giving a speech in the American Committees on Foreign Relations. No, seriously, this article is meant to be satire, right? And 1.5 billion people? Your figure is off by 200 million.
Sep 12, 2008 - 6:38 pm 39. Herunar:“It is no secret that China consumes more raw materials than any other country on the planet… more copper, more grain, etc.”
Sep 12, 2008 - 6:44 pm 40. Ex-fetus:It is no secret that the U.S., with a population 4% of the world, consumes over 60% of its oil. China? 12%. Is that why the United States overthrew a democratically elected leader in Iran, supported military coups of over 12 countries in South America, invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, and tolerated and continues to tolerate and even support rogue regimes or monarchies from South Africa to Sudan to Saudi Arabia to Suharto Indonesia? All for a few barrels of oil to fill up the fat cars of its obese, woefully ignorant citizens?
“Long term they would probably tolerate a unified Korea in exchange for vastly fewer US troops on the peninsula.”
Sounds like a win-win to me. We can then send those troops someplace useful. Say, Afghanistan or where Herunar lives.
“Once you get them running, you stay right on top of them, and that way a small force can defeat a large one every time… Only thus can a weaker country cope with a stronger; it must make up in activity what it lacks in
Sep 12, 2008 - 7:41 pm 41. cedarford:strength.”
– General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson
Herunar appears to be some pathetic 3rd world creature reading from some 40-year old Franz Fanon essay.
USA tolerated and continues to tolerate and even support rogue regimes or monarchies from South Africa to Sudan to Saudi Arabia to Suharto Indonesia…
A clue, Sherlock, S Africa is no longer a “rogue country”, it is just becoming another black-run country transforming into an unsafe, corrupt shithole. The US does not support the Sudan regime. Muslims and Chinese do. We “tolerate” KSA, because the alternative the people want is extremist Islam. And where the fuck have you been, brainless one – on Indonesia. Suharto is long-gone and a US-supported fledgling democracy is in place.
As for your tears about the Iran coup over half a century ago, which Lefties and foolish morons from nations that are crap piles, and deserve to be – Mossadegh was elected. He also was wooing the Communists – in a year when the Russian and Chicom war to take over all Korea was raging, Communist revolutions were in progress in SE Asia, attempts in Greece. And trying to take British assets w/o compensation.
He was warned we would not tolerate him bringing the Soviets in again, and any nationalization must compensate the Brits for investments. He ignored that, and so was deposed.
To the Left and the terrorists that run Iran, Mossadegh is a hero, and they love their lurid conspiracies. Even though the Mullahs would have imprisoned or executed a man with Mossadeghs many un-Islamic flaws had he been contemporary with the Islamists.
Your stats appear to be pulled out of your ass. We use 20% of the oil production, make a third of our supply ourselves, and could make 70% if not for environmentalists blocking drilling, coal liquification, oil shale use. Not 60% of the oil.
Sep 12, 2008 - 9:06 pm 42. Gordon G. Chang:And China is the largest carbon user. Likely has been for 15 years if you include the CO2 released from thousands of coal mine fores the Chinese consider too much a waste of money to put out. So 60s is your America-hating based on “evil energy users” and your dumbass smear of Americans ….being fat (a stat only true of white Southerners, Mexican-Americans, and especially obese, black women and children)
Herunar, no one knows what China’s population really is, but the official count is not considered reliable. Many children are not counted because to do so would expose violations of the harshly enforced one-child policy. Maybe I’m off by tens of millions, but my estimate is undoubtedly closer to the real count than the central government’s.
Sep 13, 2008 - 12:43 pm 43. Liliput:It is not that China doesn’t want a unified Korea, China just doesn’t want a US military base near its border. Btw, I’m amazed with the focus of so many Americans on this issue while at the same time their economy and bankings are collapsing.
Sep 15, 2008 - 9:25 pm 44. RaiulBaztepo:Hello!
Mar 28, 2009 - 3:07 pm 45. whatintheworld:Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language
See you!
Your, Raiul Baztepo
Has anyone ever considered that maybe another reason that China may NOT want a UNIFIED KOREA because think about it… If SK did unite with NK, the economic gap would be pretty wide and a headache to deal with, but…
Apr 8, 2009 - 9:31 pmSK is at the peak of technological advances and economic wealth so NK would provide a valuable source of CHEAP LABOR…
And cheap labor would eventually in the long run benefit the economy of a united Korea and give other countries (like China) a run for their money.