North Korea Puts Xi Jinping Between a Rock and a Hard Place | Asia Society

North Korea Puts Xi Jinping Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Lindsey Ford on MSNBC

September 15th, 2017

On September 15, 2017, ASPI Director of Political Security Affairs Lindsey Ford sat down with MSNBC's Ali Velshi to talk about the impact of North Korea’s latest missile test, which was launched over Japan, on China and the region.

According to Ford, the “Chinese have to be incredibly unhappy with the North Korean leadership, because they have put them in an incredibly bad position at a time when this is the last thing [Xi] wants to be focusing on.” Moreover, Ford points out that the U.S. government has made it clear that China needs to “more fully implement the sanctions that are on the table.” Yet, recent congressional testimony from U.S. officials reveals that both the Chinese and Russians “really aren’t implementing sanctions fully, the way they should be.” If this continues, China faces the potential of additional U.S. sanctions against Chinese companies.

With China's important 19th Party Congress coming up, Ford says that this dyanmic means that “Xi Jinping is really between a rock and a hard place right now” regarding North Korea. (4 min., 11 sec.)

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