A Chinese state-run newspaper has suggested Beijing would "stay neutral" if North Korea strikes first in a conflict with the United States, despite a mutual defense pact between the Asian allies.
The nationalistic Global Times tabloid said on Friday in an editorial that Washington and Pyongyang were playing a "reckless game" that could lead to "miscalculations and a strategic war", Al Jazeera reported.
"China should also make clear that if North Korea launches missiles that threaten US soil first and the US retaliates, China will stay neutral," the editorial said. However it added: "If the US and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so."
The commentary came after Washington warned North Korea this week it faced "fire and fury like the world has never seen" if it continued to threaten the US with its missile and nuclear programs. That prompted a defiant Pyongyang to threaten a missile attack on Guam, a tiny US territory in the Pacific that is home to major US air and naval facilities. China —which has been accused by the US of not doing enough to rein in its longtime ally— has maintained that political dialogue is the only solution.
"The editorial also says that if the US carries out strikes and tries to overthrow the North Korean regime then China would prevent that from happening. But it doesn't specify how Beijing would do that," Al Jazeera reporter said.
"Now of course China is the only ally that North Korea has but China has now agreed to tougher UN sanctions against North Korea, which means it will no longer be importing coal, iron, lead and seafood. Now if China does have influence over North Korea, we have yet to really see it."
