Chinese Media Ask: How Do You Solve a Problem Like North Korea?

Chinese-language media denounced North Korea's nuclear test but ask, "What will China do now?"

By Eugenia Chien, New America Media

SAN FRANCISCO -  Oct 12, 2006 - Devoting pages of reporting, analysis and commentary, Chinese-language media are wondering where North Korea's nuclear test puts China diplomatically. North Korea counts China as one of its few friends and shares a border with it.

The Chinese government gave one of the harshest criticisms of North Korea's nuclear test, with Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing calling Pyongyang's behavior "flagrant" and "brazen."

At the same time, China also asserted its importance as an international player. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson credited China with alerting the United States to the test, saying Beijing has an obligation to continue its leadership in preventing nuclear proliferation in the Korean peninsula.

As the United States and other countries consider economic sanctions, China said it would consider punitive measures against North Korea. China is North Korea's main aid donor and major trading partner. Chinese aid has made it the third-largest food donor in the world, with about 90 percent of it going to North Korea last year. Nearly half of all aid to North Korea comes from China; the remaining comes mostly from South Korea.

Chinese-language media uniformly condemned North Korea's nuclear test and called for punitive measures. Editorials are divided about how much responsibility China bears for North Korea's behavior. The Sing Tao Daily on Oct. 10 said "China has proved its influence on North Korea and dispelled its image as North Korea's protector. This lessens China's responsibility to the world for North Korea's nuclear testing."

However, a Sing Tao Daily opinion column on Oct. 11 stated that "China loses in North Korea's nuclear testing because the responsibility of containing North Korea now falls on China." The United States faults China for North Korea's nuclear testing, the columnist concludes, and is therefore the biggest winner in this situation because the nuclear test proved President George W. Bush's label of North Korea as part of the "axis of evil."

Chinese-language correspondents in China, Hong Kong, California and New York report that the test could lead to instability in the area because of North Korea's geographic proximity to China. Chinese immigrants who pay close attention to news happening back home are worried about the safety of their country.

In Taiwan, newspapers reported Foreign Ministry spokesperson Michel Lu's statement that "the nuclear test might trigger an arms race and proliferation of nuclear weapons, thus undermining the security and welfare of people in the Northeast Asian region." An Oct. 10 editorial in the Taipei Times said that a major conflict involving some of the world's most powerful countries is now a possibility.

Taiwan has long lived in the shadow of a hostile nuclear power, said the editorial, but even then there was a sense of stability as few believed a war with China could happen. But with North Korea's nuclear test, the "stability enjoyed in East Asia since the cessation of hostilities in the Korean War has been turned into uncertainty."

Chinese-language pundits agree that the test will not be the last. "From North Korea's point of view, it must improve and perfect its nuclear technology. It will not be satisfied with just one test," said the Oct. 10 editorial in the Sing Tao Daily. The question is, the editorial asked, "What is the strategy for China and the United States?"

For now, many media observers are focusing their attention on China's response. China has long insisted that other countries should not interfere in its own internal affairs, therefore it has avoided interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, said an editorial in the World Journal. But China is no longer an isolated country -- its national interests and economic stability depend on other countries, the editorial said.

"China has no need to be the world police, but it should bear more responsibility," concludes the editorial.

Eugenia Chien is a writer for New America Media.