Page 17 - Trilateral Korea Japan U.S. Cooperation

Why then have Chinese actions led all three allies to
reluctantly conclude that, while China could one day be part
of the solution, today China is very much a major part of the
problem?

The reality is that China’s greatest fear is our greatest
aspiration: South Korea, Japan, and the United States all long
for a day when the Peninsula can be peacefully unified under
the political, social, and economic system that exists today
in the South; a democratic, denuclearized Korean Peninsula
governed by the rule of law, where the rights of each individual
are respected and protected. This is China’s worst nightmare!

China continues to accuse the United States and its Asian
allies of having a “Cold War mentality” for wanting to
maintain and strengthen our alliance relationships. But, in
reality, the real problem is Beijing’s “Middle Kingdom” or
“19th Century mentality,” which calls for all its neighbors to
pay homage to China’s centrality – this is the so-called “China
Dream” that drives Xi Jinping’s policies and practices today.
This calls for North Korea to be propped up at all costs, not
out of a sense of communist solidarity, but to retain a buffer
zone, the relevance of which, in the 21st century, should be
called into serious question, given today’s missile, cyber, and
space technologies . . . and yet Beijing persists in keeping
Pyongyang on life support.

This leads to the question: How can South Korea, Japan, and
the United States work together to both deter North Korea
and dissuade China from keeping the Kim Jong-Un regime
afloat, a challenge which has been magnified by the emerging

16 Section I : North Korea-China Relations: How and Why Does Beijing Protect and Empower Pyongyang?