Want to know why China is getting as close to selling out their North Korean allies as they possibly dare? Why, of course you do. So check this out from Channel NewsAsia:
Trade between China and South Korea now stands at US$42 billion, and is set to grow further.
South Korea has also emerged as the sixth largest foreign investor, and a leading source of technology transfers in China.
That is a far cry from trade with Pyongyang, which stands at a low US$1.2 million, mostly from buying North Korean zinc, aluminium, and scrap metal.
So it comes as little surprise that many are counting on China to defuse the nuclear crisis, so as to protect its economic self-interest and ensure its stability.
Before you go and email me with all the other reasons for China's actions, let me list them here first:
Yes, China fears that if North Korea gets (more) nukes, then so will South Korea, and possibly Japan and Taiwan, too.
True, Beijing desires a deal where the US or some combination of states gives the North enough money to keep refugees out of China.
Of course, China simply can't afford a war just yet.
And I already know, thank you, that China desires to be seen as a responsible member of the community of nations, that their real concern lies across the Taiwan Straits, and that they really need to keep open their trade links with the US.
But never underestimate the importance of this little fact: South Korea makes cheap televisions.
I'm exaggerating here, but not by much. China's middle class is growing quickly, and if they aren't kept happy then there's a-gonna be trouble. South Korea makes all kinds of decent-but-cheap consumer electronics that China can't yet make herself – and those shiny gadgets are some of the keys to keeping their new bourgeois happy.
Political repression is easier to accept when the shopping is good – just ask most of the folks in Singapore.
China can buy zinc and scrap metal most anywhere, but you can't watch dubbed Seinfeld reruns on shards of steel. So, for the time being at least, China needs a little Seoul a lot more than they need Pyongyang.
If I recall correctly, in 2002, the Chinese had some 350,000,000 TVs already. That particular wave has already rolled across China. The big wave now is automobiles. My recollection is that German and South Korean brands were popular.
Actually, most TVs purchased by Chinese consumers are now manufactured within the confines of the Middle Kingdom, whether they happen to be produced by domestic manufacturers, or by plants set up by South Korean and Japanese manufacturers eager to make use of cheap Chinese labor. The same is true for PCs and DVD players, and increasingly, cell phones.
But they still need to import most of their cars, robots, industrial/telecom equipment and anime cartoons....for now.
