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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDetecting Shift, U.S. Makes Case to China on North Korea
WASHINGTON The Obama administration, detecting what it sees as a shift in decades of Chinese support for North Korea, is pressuring Chinas new president, Xi Jinping, to crack down on the regime in Pyongyang or face a heightened American military presence in its region.
In a flurry of exchanges that included a recent phone call from President Obama to Mr. Xi, administration officials said, they have briefed the Chinese in detail about American plans to upgrade missile defenses and other steps to deter the increasingly belligerent threats made by North Koreas young leader, Kim Jong-un.
China, which has been deeply suspicious of the American desire to reassert itself in Asia, has not protested publicly or privately as the United States has deployed ships and warplanes to the Korean Peninsula. That silence, American officials say, attests to both Beijings mounting frustration with the North and the recognition that its reflexive support for Pyongyang could strain its ties with Washington.
The timing of this is important, Tom Donilon, Mr. Obamas national security adviser, said in an interview. It will be an important early exercise between the United States and China, early in the term of Xi Jinping and early in the second term of President Obama.
While administration officials cautioned that Mr. Xi has been in office for only a few weeks and that China has a history of frustrating the United States in its dealings with North Korea, Mr. Donilon said he believed that Chinas position was evolving.
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No pay wall:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/06/world/asia/us-sees-china-as-lever-to-press-north-korea.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)the way WE do it. I'm glad we're using more than words and diplomacy this time.
nauthiz
(44 posts)That's actually what's kept war away from the region.
But I guess you'll be happy, like most Democrats will, when there's a mushroom cloud over Pyongyang, and the radiation wafts over to nearby Seoul?
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)nuclear war, pal?
onyourleft
(726 posts)...that most Democrats don't want a war anywhere. There are exceptions to this, of course, but certainly not "most." How many is "most?"
nauthiz
(44 posts)That's essentially what you'd end up doing.
I know this is a Democratic website. I've also seen people defend drones, assassinations, the conflict in Libya, and have asserted that Obama shouldn't be questioned in Mali.
I guess you agree with Reagan, "Peace through strength." Too bad that almost destroyed the human race.
99Forever
(14,524 posts)So you personally have skin in this game of international chicken?
Are you posting from near the DMZ?
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)99Forever
(14,524 posts).. I'm just a dumbass lifelong Democrat, what the fuck do I know? Right pal?
Cripes, where the fuck do these people come from?
Oh and BTW, I think I have my answer as to whether you have any skin in the game, right Chickenhawk?