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Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Does China Trust Trump Won't Risk War?

I think the only diplomatic way of ending the North Korean threat is to put Chinese troops into the North Korean nuclear arsenal as a dual-key launch process with Chinese troops there to protect the Chinese key-holders.

Do that and the North Koreans could not launch a strike on another country that did not invade or nuke North Korea first.

The Chinese would also need to supervise North Korean missile and nuclear facilities, with Chinese troops protecting the Chinese scientists and technicians who monitor the facilities, to keep North Korea from building weapons outside of Chinese-North Korean dual control.

China would have an incentive to keep the North Koreans under control because China would be held responsibility for any nuclear launch or proliferation.

America, Japan, and South Korea would need the power to direct the Chinese to accompany those nations' inspectors to any facility believed to be threatening that dual control, with failure to confirm lack of nuclear or missile potential authorizing military action to destroy those facilities.

Of course, a problem is that North Korea could potentially seize all those Chinese troops and civilians and use them as human shields to deter an American-led attack because China would naturally oppose the potential death of so many of their people in an attack.

And we would have to finalize the existing border--on sea and land--between North Korea and South Korea, in order to define what isn't aggression against North Korea.

So the idea is far from fool proof. But this approach is the only possible way--aside from overthrowing the mullah regime in Iran to deny North Korea their most likely customer for nuclear missiles or technology--of avoiding a war over North Korea's nukes.

Is China confident it is relieved of the responsibility to control their little pet psycho regime because America won't attack North Korea to keep Kim Jung-un from getting nuclear missiles?

If North Korea won't give up their nukes, we can either make sure the nukes can't go anywhere else (on missiles or in shipping containers) or make sure there is no dangerous customer for the nukes.

China has time before America has to make the call on a strike campaign. But not a lot of time.

UPDATE: Japan wants better anti-missile radars:

Japan is worried the United States has so far declined to arm it with a powerful new radar, arguing the decision makes the U.S. missile defense system it plans to install much less capable of countering a growing North Korean threat, three sources said.

Japan wants to have a land-based version of the Aegis ballistic missile defense (BMD) system operational by 2023 as a new layer of defense to help counter North Korea's missile advances.

And a better anti-missile radar will degrade China's missile arsenal aimed at Japan.

China might really want to get a sense of urgency about putting down their snarling rabid dog.

UPDATE: Ah, by the time the North Korean missile reached Japanese air space it was too high for an intercept. Tip to Instapundit.