China and Japan´s postwar truce has always been an uneasy one - and if Washington cools its support for Tokyo, the dynamics in the region could shift dangerously. By Richard McGregorFor news out of east Asia, it is difficult to compete with North Korea´s youthful, jocular despot, Kim Jong-un, and his near-daily threats to fire a nuclear-tipped missile at US territory. On Monday, Kim was pictured surrounded by his top generals mulling over maps with targets closer to home, in South Korea and Japan, while warning again that he was ready to `wring the windpipes of the Yankees`. The young Kim, and his father and grandfather before him, have long tossed violent epithets at their enemies, but Pyongyang´s new capabilities - to potentially deliver a nuclear warhead across the Pacific - have injected fresh danger into the crisis on the Korean peninsula.The North Korean crisis is one of the few creations of the cold war to have outlived the Berlin Wall, despite persistent predictions that the communist dynasty would collapse. There are many factors driving the confrontation, chief among them paranoia in Pyongyang, where the Kim dynasty is focused above all on preventing regime change. In neighbouring China, Beijing is paralysed: it is caught between anger at Kim for destabilising the region, and fear that if it pushes Pyongyang too hard, the regime will collapse, and fall into the hands of South Korea, an ally of the US. The US itself also seems impotent, knowing that starting any war could lead to devastating attacks on its allies in Seoul and Tokyo. Related: Japan to develop missile as tensions with China mount - reports Related: China accuses Japan of threatening Pacific peace with military law Related: What´s behind Beijing´s drive to control the South China Sea? | Howard W French Continue reading...
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