But the opening session instead laid bare a recurring theme between Beijing and Washington: the United States came with a long wish list for China on both economic and security issues, while China mostly wants to be left alone to pursue policies that are turning it into an economic superpower without putting at risk its prized geopolitical stability.The problem, of course, is that North Korea is the one currently threatening that prized geopolitical stability. They provoked the current crisis. Yet confronting the North Koreans would mean changing China’s previous policy of maintaining the status quo on the peninsula as long as possible.
At what point does China get fed up with the DPRK, decide it isn’t worth the trouble and start considering alternatives?
