In Conflict Between US and North Korea, Which Side Is China on?

Chinese President Xi Jinping in Xiamen, southeastern China's Fujian Province, on Sept. 5, 2017. WU HONG/AFP/Getty Images

North Korea declared that it tested its sixth nuclear bomb on Sept. 3, a move emphatically condemned by UN Secretary General António Guterres and U.S. President Donald Trump, who threatened to stop trading with any country doing business with the reclusive communist country.

Of all the countries that have diplomatic ties with North Korea, Trump’s threat probably hits closest to home for the Chinese regime, North Korea’s largest and historically most loyal ally.

Over the years, China has supported its communist neighbor, fearing that a collapse of the Kim regime would send thousands of refugees pouring into the country.

The Chinese regime also uses North Korea as a bargaining chip with the United States, claiming that China is the only one that can bring North Korea to the table, says Chen Pokong, a China current affairs analyst.

But the Chinese regime also doesn’t want to deal with the backlash and instability in the region that North Korea has created.

The test fire of a ballistic missile at an undisclosed location in North Korea in an undated photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on May 30, 2017.
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