China Will Stop Any Overthrow Of North Korea: Official Press

--But If North Korea Strikes First, China To Remain Neutral On US Retaliation

     BEIJING (MNI) - China warned through a major state-run newspaper on Friday

that it would prevent any attempted overthrow of the North Korean regime by the

United States and South Korea, but that if North Korea strikes the U.S. with

missiles first and the U.S. retaliates, China would remain neutral. 

     An editorial in the nationalistic Global Times, which is run by the

official People's Daily, said that Beijing was not able to persuade either

Washington or Pyongyang "to back down at this time," and wanted both sides to

"understand that when their actions jeopardize China's interests, China will

respond with a firm hand." 

     The Chinese government has long stressed the need for a peaceful resolution

of the North Korea issue, and has also repeatedly told the United States that

reining in North Korea's nuclear ambitions is not the sole responsibility of

Beijing. 

     U.S. President Donald Trump has said through Twitter messages that if China

"wants to solve the North Korean problem, they will," and that "China does

nothing for us with North Korea, just talk." He has also tied the possibility of

better trade deals for China to its ending the North Korean threat.

     After North Korea's most recent test of an intercontinental ballistic

missile, which Pyongyang said could reach anywhere in the United States, the

U.N. Security Council on Saturday imposed new sanctions on Pyongyang depriving

it of what could potentially be $1 billion in export income. Pyongyang railed

against the sanctions, vowing retaliation against the United States "thousands

of times over." 

     In response, Trump warned North Korea that the U.S. would react with "fire

and fury" to any North Korean military threat. North Korea this week said it had

made plans to fire four missiles near Guam, a U.S. territory with two large

American military bases. The Pentagon, meanwhile, has made plans for pre-emptive

strikes on north Korean missile sites.

     The Global Times editorial said the tit-for-tat rhetoric amounted to a

"reckless game" that may lead to "miscalculations and a strategic war."

     "That is to say, neither Washington nor Pyongyang really wants war, but a

war could break out anyway as they do not have the experience of bringing such

an extreme game back under control," it said.

     China, the editorial said, will "firmly resist any side which wants to

change the status quo of the areas where China's interests are concerned."

--MNI Beijing Bureau; +86 (10) 8532-5998; email: vince.morkri@marketnews.com

--MNI BEIJING Bureau; +1 202-371-2121; email: john.carter@mni-news.com

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