Will China Block Korean Unification?

Here’s an interesting article in the Washington Post that suggests China could block the eventual unification of the two Koreas:

A recent report by Senate Republican staff members warns that China, because of its deepening economic ties with North Korea as well as its ancient claims on Korean land, could attempt to “manage, and conceivably block,” an eventual unification between the two Koreas, if ever the Kim family falls from power in Pyongyang.

The report was released last month with little fanfare, but North Korea watchers say it gives voice to an increasingly popular but still-sensitive sentiment: that China will ultimately try to prevent the South from absorbing the North, the long-assumed post-collapse scenario.

Read the rest of the article here.

Well, this changes things drastically. On the other hand, I have always believed that Japan and China are quite happy with a divided Korea. A unified Korea would drastically alter the balance of power in Northeast Asia and make Korea an economic threat to China and Japan. In the past, Korea was often referred to as a “shrimp caught between two whales.” If Korea does reunify one day, this will not be the case.

Photo courtesy of Washington Post