中国对韩朝紧张关系的立场

China has been a traditional ally of North Korea. But that relationship really is starting to change in terms of its dynamic with South Korea. Over the past couple of years, China and South Korea have grown closer together. And that's mainly for economic reasons. The trade statistics really tell it all. Let me just give you those: China's trade with North Korea fell to 2.7 billion dollars last year, whereas compared to China's trade with South Korea, it ballooned to 157 billion dollars. So 2.7 billion dollars, 157 billion dollars for South Korea. And so as China's economic influence continues to grow in the region, so too will Beijing's relationship with Seoul. This is what one economist had to say.

It's a rapidly growing relationship. And the rebound that we saw in the Korean economy over the past year since the crisis, for example, was in large part driven by domestic Chinese demand. It was drawing in goods from Korea, such as electronics, for example, and cars.

So just to give you an example of how important the Chinese market is for South Korean companies. Hyundai Motor is now the third top brand in China for cars. Samsung Electronics as well as LG Electronics both posted huge gains in their sales because of China. And what's interesting here is that, of course, South Korean businesses don't only need the Chinese market, but the Chinese, they need that South Korean investment. Samsung Electronics has been investing very heavily, building lots of factories, and, of course, bringing jobs with those factories.

Now this begs obviously. The big question, with that economic leverage comes political leverage for South Korea. Is South Korea in a stronger position now to, to nudge China towards making stronger or taking stronger action against North Korea?

Well, they have some more leverage shall I compare to the past when there was a very clear line drawn in the sand with the US and South Korea on one side, and China and North Korea on the other. But for the most part, there is a big question mark as to just how much more leverage South Korea really does have. And not only in the economic relationship-a lot of people still believe that China does have the upper hand when it comes to that economic relationship-but also just what we're seeing now is that South Korea might be able to nudge China a little bit. But China really does have to now walk a very, very fine line where they don't necessarily want to have the US military on their doorstep. But at the same time, they can't be seen blindly supporting the North Korea regime. So they are in a very complicated situation.