Not a blood alliance anymore: China’s evolving policy toward UN sanctions on North Korea

ABSTRACT

What has driven China’s policy toward United Nations (UN) sanctions on North Korea? While insisting on a peaceful settlement of North Korean nuclear issues via diplomatic dialogues, China has gradually loosened its protective stance regarding UN sanctions on North Korea. This article examines the factors that have pushed China to take a tougher position toward North Korea: North Korea’s increasingly aggressive nuclear policy, the influence of the United States on Chinese foreign policy, and the changing perception of North Korea in China. Through close examination of China’s domestic discussions on North Korea, this article concludes that, besides the external factors, a growing negative perception of North Korea has played an increasingly important role in changing China’s official stance. The findings suggest that closer attention should be paid to the changes in the domestic political environment of China to understand its current and future approach toward North Korea.

KEYWORDS:

• East Asian security
• North Korea
• UN sanctions
• U.S. foreign policy
• Chinese foreign policy
• elite opinion

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Wenxin Li is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Delaware, USA. Her research interests include East Asian security relations, with a special focus on China’s relationships with the United States, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula.

Ji Young Kim is an assistant professor in the Department of Japan Studies, College of Languages and Cultures, Hanyang University (ERICA), South Korea. Before she moved to Hanyang University, she worked as an associate professor in the Department of Area Studies, the University of Tokyo, Japan. Her recent research interests include East Asian security relations, identity politics, South Korea-Japan relations, and Sino-Japanese relations. She has published in Pacific Affairs, International Relations of the Asia Pacific, and International Politics, among others.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the research fund of Hanyang University [grant number HY-2019].