December 05, 2023
Opinion

After THAAD, could China sanction South Korea?

Originally thought to bring China onside, THAAD deployment has alienated an essential partner

In late August, I spent a few days in Beijing where I had many opportunities to meet Chinese academics and policy analysts. It was a rather large and diverse group which included both people who were, essentially, the voice of the leadership, and those who are not known to be Communist Party fans.

Needless to say, we largely talked about North Korea and, of course, about the current Chinese attitude to the situation in and around the Korean peninsula. Following sort of a tradition, I would like to brief the readers of NK News about what I saw and heard in Beijing, even though, due to the obvious reasons, this report is not going to be excessively detailed.