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China links: Aid to Africa, Winter Olympics, universities, North Korea relations and more

China links: Aid to Africa, Winter Olympics, universities, North Korea relations and more
Published 12 Feb 2014   Follow @dvanderkley

I suspect Chinese officials are carefully, even desperately trying to find which doors in Pyongyang are still open to them. Since Jang’s fall, Beijing has been quite visibly nervous in its public pronouncements, urging stability and calm reactions all around even as it privately interprets Kim as threatening the North’s stability. China seems to be struggling to retain its posture of propping up the North’s regime economically and politically while it is implicitly denounced in Pyongyang’s official statements for links to Jang’s misbehavior. Another potential interlocutor, Pyongyang’s ambassador in Beijing, had ties to Jang and may be in an awkward position to help at this point.



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