China is best U.S. hope in Korea crisis

The U.S. and China have long held radically different visions for the world, but it’s clear that both of them now agree on one thing: North Korea is a dangerous threat. It’s about time. North Korea’s provocative President Kim Jong Un is dangerous. For months, Kim has issued threats to use both missiles and nuclear weapons against the United States or South Korea.

To have China join the United States in recognizing the danger here is the first step toward neutralizing that danger. North Korea does not have many friends in the world, but China is one.

Indeed, China has been a very good friend. North Korea has been extremely dependent on China for trade, especially for imports such as in oil, machinery, consumer products and, oh yeah, food. Meanwhile, North Korea has exported a great deal of iron ore and coal to China.

However, in February China stopped its coal imports. Then Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump met in Florida. Trump said he offered China significant trade inducements to help increase pressure on North Korea.

No specifics were released, but last week Trump suddenly reversed his campaign rhetoric about China being a currency manipulator. Then, last Friday, Air China suspended flights between Beijing and Pyongyang. It’s difficult to believe those were coincidental.

Meanwhile, Kim threw an elaborate Soviet-style military parade in honor of the birthday of Kim’s grandfather, Korea’s founder Kim Il Sung. He tried to punctuate things with a dramatic missile test, but it failed. Nonetheless, the parade highlighted an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM — the kind that could reach U.S. cities.

North Korea has detonated five nuclear devices with another one expected soon, and it now appears to have an ICBM, but it so far has been unable to design a nuclear weapon small enough to fit on an ICBM. “So far” being the key words there.

That is why China and the U.S. must act now.

Some believe the U.S. should just launch a pre-emptive strike. Trump has hinted that the U.S. might do that. But it’s dangerous — not only because a cornered Kim might do just about anything but also because a strike would almost certainly invoke Article 2 of the 1961 Sino-North Korean Treaty that legally requires China to aid North Korea in case of an attack.

Granted, the Chinese government abides by legalities only when it suits them, but we don’t want to take that chance.

Working with China to neutralize the threat Kim represents is the best path. Trump generally scorns diplomacy, but engaging this way with China, his favorite punching bag during the campaign, is an encouraging sign.