Francis Fukuyama, a political scientist at Stanford
University, speculates that China would never advocate the collapse of the
North Korean regime and would be certain not to cooperate in the
reunification of the Korean Peninsula.
During a seminar titled, “The Relationship
between U.S. and China and Korean Reunification,” recently hosted by Kyungnam
University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES), Fukuyama contended that internal problems leading to the collapse of the North Korean regime and
subsequent reunification of the two Koreas is a situation of which China is
extremely wary, namely because it presents an environment entirely out of its
control.
He explained that whereas North Korea
perceives China as a very close, intimate ally, China sees North Korea only as a strategic one. To China, the worst possible outcome would be a scenario in
which the North Korean regime crumbles, the Korean Peninsula becomes reunified,
and U.S. troops spread throughout the whole of the reunited territory.
By Fukuyama’s assertion, China would be
willing to go as far as mobilizing troops in order to stave off North Korea’s
collapse, unwilling to bear witness to a unified Korean Peninsula with South
Korea and the United States at the helm of the efforts.
Fukuyama stressed that strategic dialogue
between the United States and China is paramount for reunification of the two
Koreas, but the pronounced lack of trust between the two superpowers hinders the possibility that they will engage in– very necessary– talks.
