Sources claim that China has recently confiscated 500,000 tons of condensed light oil from a North Korea in what appears to be a play to demonstrate their authority over the region surrounding the Hermit Kingdom. What's more is that China is now demanding that North Korea pay "storage fees" in excess of two million dollars! This is a clear power play by China to show North Korea that they will remain dependent on China whether they like it or not.What's even worse is that the facilities within North Korea are not adequate for the refining of this form of crude oil and they require the use of facilities located in Beijing.
I for one am happy to see China stepping up in regards to the stability of their region regarding North Korea. Admittedly, this form of coercion will probably result in the eventual alienation of even China from the ever defiant Korean state. The only ones who can really be to blamed for this are the North Koreans as they continue to press forward on their nuclear campaign without the support of their #1 back, China. Back at the end of 2012 North Korea successfully launched their new longer ranged ballistic missiles, something that China clearly does not support as they have cut their petroleum supplies into North Korean by 1/3 since, but do however remain 80% of North Korea's oil supply despite these new dealings with Iran.
The UN has also increased the number of economic sanctions on North Korean and it appears that China has a few of their own sanctions in mind as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment