China’s support for North Korea’s nuclear activity ‘strategy’ to maintain cordial ties

After reports emerged of Pyongyang conducting its 7th Nuclear test, the spotlight has fallen on China once again on whether the country would maintain friendly ties with the country under all circumstances as Beijing has earlier voiced opposition to the North Korea’s missile launch, Federico Giuliani, specialised in Public and Political Communication Strategy said writing a thesis on the North Korean political system in Insideover.
According to foreign affairs experts, China strongly opposed North Korea’s test of a new ballistic missile in February 2017. According to Inside Over, the Security Council adopted sanctions after North Korea’s first nuclear test explosion in 2006 and reinforced them over time in an effort to curtail its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and cut off cash. However, in May, China and Russia caused the Security Council’s first significant rift on sanctions against North Korea by voting against a resolution that would have strengthened the organization’s response to missile launches.
China and Russia, whose ties with the West have significantly worsened due to their invasion of Ukraine, said at the UN meeting that the US was responsible for the continuous tension with Pyongyang notwithstanding North Korea’s actions.
Notably, North Korea violated the norms while carrying out the nuclear test on September 3 in 2017 as, during the same period, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa at a summit ahead of the CCP Congress.
Furthermore, when Pyongyang conducted its sixth nuclear test, it triggered an earthquake of magnitude 6.3 that rattled homes near the North Korea-China border and reignited concerns about radioactive contamination in the region, as per Inside Over.
Chinese and Russian officials have allegedly “bent over backwards” to defend the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s serial violations of UN sanctions, according to US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
On the subject of nuclear tests, there is concern that North Korea could not pay attention to China. China, however, would want to avoid embarrassing circumstances as Beijing wishes to preserve amicable relations with Pyongyang at any costs. Meanwhile, Chinese scholars have attributed the ongoing tension on the Korean Peninsula to the United States and South Korea, the Inside Over reported.
Several world leaders have reaffirmed time and again that North Korea’s nuclear test would be met with a strong and resolute response from the international community, reiterating that needless provocation is not the need of
the hour.