The Six-Party Talks to resolve North Korea’s nuclear crisis continues to be stalled after nearly seven years. China’s favoured diplomatic approach to deescalate regional tensions temporarily will do little to resolve the crisis if Beijing hesitates to wield a firm hand and rein its neighbour in.

North Korea has violated multiple United Nations resolutions again by conducting its fourth nuclear test on 6 January 2016, and launching a long-range rocket on 7 February in defiance of international sanctions.

The Chinese foreign ministry has responded negatively to the provocative actions of its neighbour despite the two countries’ long-standing relationship that has often been described “as close as lips and teeth”. Beijing has warned that it would support a new United Nations Security Council resolution to make Pyongyang “pay the necessary price”. At the same time, China continues to urge the United States and North Korea to resolve the issue peacefully by returning to the negotiating table.

… Tan Ming Hui is an Associate Research Fellow at the Centre for Multilateralism Studies (CMS) at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.