North Korea and China, military alliance?
The current aggravation of the situation on the Korean Peninsula has caused heated debates on whether China will provide military support to North Korea in the event of the outbreak of hostilities? In the light of the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of a peace treaty between the states, the topic of China’s automatic entry into the opposition on the side of North Korea, which was recently considered a definitive thing of the past, has once again become topical. This regrettable and disturbing circumstance is a vivid example of how problematic the current political situation on and around the Korean Peninsula has become. This is not only the problem of North and South Korea. On Saturday, July 9, Japan, Australia and the United States began conducting joint military exercises in the waters north-west of Borneo near which the Spratly Islands (Nansha) are located, causing a dispute between China and the neighboring states of Southeast Asia. In addition, the United States has planned to hold joint exercises in the East China and South China Seas with Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam. In June, during the Summit of the Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs of Japan and the USA (in 2011 + 2 format), the parties approved that they should strengthen the current tripartite alliances involving India, Australia and South Korea, in which they both . This decision has a clear focus against China. Naturally, the Chinese government was dissatisfied with it, and the regional arms race is beginning to gain momentum with a new force.
Today, China points to the existence of a Treaty on Mutual Assistance and Cooperation concluded between him and North Korea in 1961, and in particular to its second article, which states: “In the event that one of the parties to the Treaty is subjected to armed aggression by any state or therefore, the other party to the Treaty will immediately provide it with the necessary military and other assistance with all the means at its disposal. ”
With the end of the Cold War, the political situation on the Korean Peninsula changed, and Seoul established close diplomatic relations with Beijing, many have forgotten the above provision of the treaty, considering it no more than a dead letter. However, given the new rise in tensions between North and South Korea, circumstances have changed dramatically. In 2010, the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China even specially emphasized that it is not planned to cancel or change this article.
If you look at what is happening in the region from a broad perspective, inter-Korean friction will turn out to be nothing more than a by-product of the changes occurring in Asia, and especially in one of their driving forces. The current political situation is rigorously moving toward a military confrontation between the northern bloc, headed by China, and the southern bloc led by the United States. If South Korea takes active steps to participate in the activities of the southern bloc, this will undoubtedly lead to closer rapprochement between Pyongyang and Beijing. In this light, the main significance of the renewed heated debate about China’s automatic and undoubted military intervention in support of North Korea should be considered.
At the same time, many experts argue that the current escalation of the confrontation on the Korean Peninsula is not a war between two Koreas, but a war of the interests of the United States and China. China’s current development has reached unprecedented proportions, and this applies to all sectors of the economy, both civilian and military, and this can not but scare the United States who are used to dominating everything and everywhere.
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