China said that North Korea was naughty for setting off its Hiroshima bomb, but didn’t use any of its influence to prevent it. Forbes describes that influence:

China supplies about 90% of North Korea’s oil, 80% of its consumer goods and 45% of its food. Beijing is Pyongyang’s only formal military ally and its primary backer in the United Nations Security Council and other diplomatic forums. If it weren’t for the Chinese, there would be no North Korean missile program, no North Korean nuclear program and no North Korea.

China owns about a quarter of all US Treasury securities held by the public. Total US government debt is about $11 trillion today. It seems probable that China could have told North Korea to knock it off if China wanted to. But China apparently calculates its self-interest and bides its time in acting. What influence will China exert when it is a buyer of last resort for the new $10 trillion in securities that the Obama administration intends to necessitate?

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 1:16 am and is filed under China, Democrats, General, Republicans, War, business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.