US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before their meeting at the Great Hall of the People on Sept 30, 2017 in Beijing, China. PHOTO: REUTERS
New York Times: A Tillerson Slip Offers a Peek Into Secret Planning on North Korea
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson let slip last week a few tantalizing details about one of the nation’s most secret military contingency plans: how the United States would try to race inside North Korea to seize its nuclear weapons if it ever saw evidence that Kim Jong-un’s government was collapsing.
For years, American diplomats have been trying to engage their Chinese counterparts in a discussion of this scenario, hoping to avoid a conflict between arriving American Special Forces — who have been practicing this operation for years — and the Chinese military, which would almost certainly pour over the border in a parallel effort.
And for years the Chinese have resisted the conversation, according to several former American officials who tried to engage them in joint planning. The Chinese feared that if news of a conversation leaked, Beijing would be seen as conspiring with the United States over plans for an eventual North Korean collapse, eroding any leverage that Beijing still held over Mr. Kim.
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WNU Editor: Chinese forces would reach these North Korean nuclear sites long before the U.S. does.
1 comment:
@WNU: That depends. Chinese forces may not want to enter North Korea because of fear of retaliation, once Kim Jong-Un realizes Xi betrayed him
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