Introduction: Continuity and Change in Chinese Expert Views of North Korea

Abstract

Rising concerns about the threats North Korea poses to international security have made Beijing’s relations with Pyongyang an increasingly important focal point for the international community, which has high hopes that Chinese influence will bring an end to Pyongyang’s provocations and pursuit of nuclear weapons. As Pyongyang has continued to conduct international affairs in ways that, more often than not, defy Beijing’s expectations and preferences, there is evidence that the Chinese leadership has been engaged in a “rethink” on its policy toward its intractable ally.¹ While it is not yet clear to what extent or how Chinese policy toward North Korea could be reoriented, the community of Chinese academics and other experts weighing in on North Korea’s behavior and the China-North Korea relationship has been growing. Many of these experts and their perspectives are not well known outside China. While there are more non-Chinese analysts who regularly read Chinese writings on international affairs than ever before, this group is still too small to adequately circulate Chinese experts’ views into the wider international dialogue on North Korean security. At a time when a better understanding of what China’s North Korea watchers think could be especially helpful to insights into the thinking and the debates underlying Chinese policy, this book’s 15 chapters present an introduction to an English language readership to some of their views. In addition to illustrating the plurality of perspectives advanced by Chinese experts on North Korea and an international relationship that is China’s closest as well as its most difficult, the volume’s contributions should also be seen as windows on the contours of China’s particular political and intellectual environment.