China Has Its Hands Full With North Korea

China is on the spot. Whenever North Korea creates a problem, Beijing is implicated. That's the pattern. The latest incident of North Korea's shelling of the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong and the ensuing tension on the Korean Peninsula is not an exception. The finger was quickly pointed at China, which is widely seen as turning a blind eye to North Korean provocation.
On Sunday, during a meeting with a senior Chinese envoy sent by President Hu Jintao, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak pressed China to take "a more objective, responsible" stance in handling inter-Korean affairs and warned further North Korean provocation would not be tolerated with the usual restraint from the Seoul side - a message he reiterated on Monday as he vowed retaliation over last week's "inhumane" attacks.