April 25, 2024
Expert Surveys

Would a destabilized Korean Peninsula mean a China-U.S war?

China, U.S. more likely to be odds in times of peace, Chinese North Korea watchers say

Observers of the Korean Peninsula broadly agree that China guards its interests there very closely, opposing North Korean moves that raise tensions but avoiding moves that might cause regime collapse.

If it did collapse, though, and the northern half of the peninsula needed to be secured, how would China react? More importantly, how would China and the U.S. – whose South Korean allies would look to unite the peninsula under their control – react to one another in such a scenario? Would it be the Yalu River in 1950 all over again?

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