The Shift of Security Environment in Northeast Asia: The US–China Conflict and its Implications for Korea

Abstract

This essay attempts to highlight how the nature of the US–China conflict is deep and structural, and therefore likely to have conflicting long-term impacts on the currently unfolding high-wire nuclear negotiations between North Korea and the United States. China is seen as the country with the greatest influence over North Korea, something China denies. On numerous occasions, Trump has openly criticized that “China was behind” North Korea’s defiant attitude that stalled the nuclear negotiations. How the “China factor” influences the US–North Korean negotiations continues to draw keen attention.