The Secret History of Kim Jung Il -- written by one of his high school teachers

Re:The Secret History of Kim Jung Il -- written by one of hi... by nknight on Tuesday December 20, 2011 @11:58AM (#3374125)

China wasn't a growing economic powerhouse in 1950. In fact, it didn't have much of an economy, period. They've made too much progress, established too many economic links, gained too much international influence to throw it away on a stupid war that, even in "victory", would be a loss.

They don't even have an idealogical interest -- we throw around the word "communist", but North Korea's modern ideologies are so far removed from Chinese communism that it's practically apples and oranges.

And the Cold War is long over, nobody's out to "eradicate" or even "contain" communism. US-Chinese relations are strained, but not hostile, and they know we wouldn't be looking to cross the Yalu.

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Re:The Secret History of Kim Jung Il -- written by one of hi... by jbooth on Tuesday December 20, 2011 @12:05PM (#3374158)

Even more than the macro factors, the 1950s Chinese state was a revolutionary state bent on the worldwide spread of communism.

In the late 1970s, Deng Xiaopeng killed off the last group of leaders trying to keep that sentiment alive (the Gang of Four) and since then they've been all pragmatism, all the time. Any talk of communism is window-dressing, their regime is ideologically committed to doing what's practical.

So even aside from the cost-benefit, they have no ideological incentive to throw their lot in with the North Korean gov't. As I said upthread, the reason they give them aid right now is because a refugee crisis in Manchuria would be inconvenient. Pragmatism.

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