Exclusive: china needs to choose between the us or north korea

In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, CNN military analyst Cedric Leighton stated that Beijing’s current tactics, attempting to please both the US and North Korea, is not a long-term

strategy. He said: “I think that those tactics are at some point doomed to failure because one side or the other is going to do something that makes the current Chinese position untenable

but until that time they will play it as best as they can. “They will try to placate both sides, they will try to placate Trump on one side by being seen to be doing something and then do

just enough to make that work. “But then, on the other hand, they will also be there to prop up the North Korean’s and make sure that they don’t fall down as a stack of dominoes would and

that makes it difficult for them to do this in the long term.” Mr Leighton believes an increased provocation from Kim Jong-un could be the last straw with Beijing that could force Xi Jinping

to alter the county’s long standing rhetoric against Pyongyang. He added: “I think the one thing that could change the Chinese position would be if something happened where the North

Korean’s fired an active missile on a target and it actually exploded. “I think that would make the Chinese position untenable. “That could also make it very difficult for the Chinese to try

to please both sides because they also have the vital interests of keeping its trading relationship with the United States alive and if something like that were to happen the potential

economic dislocations would really hurt the Chinese and in the end economic self-interest will decide the fate of any North Korean policy the Chinese have.” When questioned on who Xi Jinping

would side with if his hand was forced, the military analyst disclosed that China would “reluctantly” ally itself with the US. He stated: “It would be a very rocky decision road for them to

take because they have that historical connection to North Korea. “They have a previous ideological connection and for them the fact that they were able to fight US and UN forces to more or

less a stalemate on the Korean peninsula during the Korean War is a point of some degree of pride and they see that as being able to secure their country from possible threats from the

United States or other places. TRUMP ON NORTH KOREAN MISSILE: 'WE WILL HANDLE IT' “But I think reluctantly they would choose the route of actually being able to stay on the US side

but it would be a very hard decision to make.” Mr Leighton elaborated that China has a limit to its aggressive rhetoric against North Korea due to fears of a refugee crisis if the Kim

regime were to implode. He went on: “China is trying hard to exercise what leverage they can over North Korean’s, but they want to make sure that they don’t set up conditions that would

allow for the collapse of the North Korean regime. GETTY Mr Leighton elaborated that China has a limit to its aggressive rhetoric against North Korea “They don’t want the refugees to come

in, they don’t want the economic dislocation and they certainly don’t want a powerful unified Korea on their border.” Donald Trump spoke to Xi Jinping following the hermit kingdom’s most

powerful missile test this week in the hopes of pushing Beijing to harden its stance against despot leader Kim Jong-un, however, Mr Leighton believes the Republican firebrand’s efforts are

in vain as China will “only work in their interests”. He declared: “The fact that President Trump and President Xi spoke on Thursday was probably indicative of an effort by the United States

to try to get the Chinese to harden their stance against the North Korean’s. GETTY Donald Trump spoke to Xi Jinping following the hermit kingdom’s most powerful missile test this week “But

we will have to remember that the Chinese will only work if it is in their interests to basically make things harder for the North Korean’s and right now they are not happy with the North

Korean’s but they don’t think they can pressure them too much because they also do not want the regime to implode from within. “That is also a prime consideration so they are trying to

placate the United States, they want to be seen to be doing something, especially by President Trump, but they also don’t want to press too hard for fear of destabilising the regime in

Pyongyang.” Images of North Korea’s latest missile test were released last night - despot leader Kim Jong-un can be seen watching the deadly projectile as it entered the stratosphere before

plunging into the Sea of Japan.