As United Nations Security Council members again struggle to respond effectively to a North Korean nuclear test, hopes -- and frustrations -- are turning once again to China. After two decades of trying and failing to negotiate away Pyongyang's nuclear aspirations, despairing observers are demanding that China make the problem go away. This wishful thinking is unrealistic and distracting.
China most certainly does not want a nuclear North Korea. As that prospect nears, a strategy of hoping the threat could be bought off with American cash and concessions, or contained and ignored until a more pliant North Korean regime appears looks increasingly inadequate. However this approach will probably remain Beijing's default position unless its wider concerns about the future of the Korean peninsula can be addressed.
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