Geoff Dyer in Washington, China Tension With US Poised to Trigger Wider Power Play. Financial Times (FT), Dec 20, 2011.
Quote:
"Leaked US diplomatic cables last year gave the impression that the ground was being prepared for a grand accomodation between China and the US over the future of the Korean peninsula. One of them quoted a Chinese official saying that North Korea 'now had little value to China as a buffer state.
"The reality, however, is very different. Chinese support for North Korea is probably one of the most controversial aspects of the country's foreign policy.
"Many young Chinese are embarrassed to support a regime that seems to represent the worst aspects of Maoism. 'Does the system of hereditary monarchy belong to socialism with Korean characteristics?', as one Chiese microblogger put it yesterday. And plenty of younger officials see the burgeoning economic ties with South Korea as far more important than sustainingsclerotic Pyongyang.
"In Washington, the Obama administration is much less interested in reaching out to renegade regimes than it was three years ago.
"there are some signs that political mood is shifting, at least on the right. The contempt for the North Korean regime is now laced with frustration at what many see as Beijing's refusal genuinely to co-operate on ending Pyongyang's nuclear programme. The death of Kim Jong-il, some believe, is teh perfect moment to end the charade of working togetehr with Beijing and to push more openly for regime change in North Korea.
My comment:
(a) The quotation in BBC Chinese is patently wrong: FT compares the Obama administration now with three years ago, not with the previous administration 前政府.
(b) There is no need to read the rest.