China Mum on Latest US Deployments in Korea

Experts: Govt Too Mad at North Korea to Chew Out US for Escalations

For China, the North Korean government is always a liability, and its tendency to get involved in protracted wars of words with the US is irksome, something China always eventually has to intervene to stave off.

The latest round has shown a surprising lack of public comment from China however, which has been surprisingly mum on US escalations in the area, deploying warplanes and warships along the North Korean coast.

Experts say that China’s muted response to the US is a reflection of growing anger with North Korea, and that they are too mad at the government there for this latest round of bellicosity to really chew the US out for their part of it.

It also reflects a belief, common to both China and a lot of people in South Korea, that the spat won’t actually lead to anything. Instead officials are just issuing generic calls for calm at regular intervals and waiting for the two sides to tire themselves out arguing.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.