North Korea lets ordinary Chinese down

• Source: The Global Times
• [23:58 June 02 2009]
• Comments

Chinese peoples’ attitudes toward North Korea have fallen to a historic low since the North’s latest nuclear moves. Confusion, anxiety and disappointment are common among ordinary Chinese. The emotional ties connecting them to North Korea are no longer secure. And this is definitely not good news for North Korea.

A profound friendship between China and North Korea, two socialist countries and close neighbors, was formed during the Korean War and the Cold War. Every time North Korea ran into difficulty, the Chinese government and people offered a helping hand voluntarily. Common Chinese people developed a sympathetic feeling to their small neighbor struggling for national independence and survival. This in turn became a solid support for the Chinese government to formulate a positive foreign policy toward North Korea.

However, North Korea did not seem to treasure its friendship with the Chinese people and their government very much. It did not respect China’s advice and put the Chinese government in an awkward position by producing a series of security crises in East Asia.

Some of the actions of North Korea might have been justified if North Korean leaders were trying to save the country from foreign invasion. Chinese people understand that, because China was once in a similar situation.

But the North Korean nuclear ambition went too far, going beyond Chinese tolerance and understanding. The Cold War ended almost 20 years ago. The theme of the East Asian region and of the contemporary world is peaceful development. Right now, ordinary Chinese people cannot understand why an ally with whom we shared good times and bad for so many years could become such a troublemaker.

Possessing nuclear weapons will not produce a miracle in North Korea to solve the country’s major problems. It won’t allow North Korea to manipulate other countries, including China. Instead, it will only isolate North Korea further from the rest of the world, even isolating it from the friendship of the Chinese people.

Without the support and sympathy of the Chinese people to North Korea, the Chinese government will change its policy. North Korea will be left without a friend in the world.

Now, the biggest wish of all Chinese is for regional peace and stability. It is time for Pyongyang to respect this wish to win back the respect of the Chinese people and the international community.