North Korea’s aid to Russia raises difficult questions in China

livemint.com:

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Officials from China have avoided direct comment on North Korea’s despatch of thousands of troops to Russia, where they might help in a conflict that all three countries see as a contest against overweening American might. China itself is a crucial if undeclared backer of Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, providing technological support for Russia’s defence industries.

But behind closed doors, Chinese officials may question North Korea’s move. To celebrate their forging of diplomatic relations 75 years ago, China and North Korea describe 2024 as a “year of friendship". China insists that their ties are “as close as lips and teeth".

But on Chinese social media—which are normally heavily censored to skew opinion in favour of authoritarian countries—some netizens with large followings have been wondering whether North Korea may have harmed China’s interests. On October 24th, a day after America said there was evidence that North Korean troops were in Russia, a Chinese foreign-ministry spokesman said “China does not have information on that." On Weibo, a microblogging site, a reporter for state media, Zhao Lingmin, told her more than 1m followers that this indicated China had not been informed in advance of North Korea’s action, “which is clearly a sign of disrespect". Qiu Zhenhai, a well-known political commentator with nearly 2m followers on Weibo, went further.

“So, who is the biggest direct victim in this situation? It’s China," he said. He fretted about the possibility of Russia returning the favour by helping North Korea in a war on the Korean peninsula that could result in nuclear conflict on China’s doorstep. Many analysts agree that China is peeved by North Korea’s apparent tilt