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China Denies North Korean Ship Held Due to Sanctions

China is denying that a ship registered to North Korea was recently stopped by Hong Kong authorities due to the recent passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1718. Beijing, traditionally a close ally of Pyongyang in the past, denounced the nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People?s Republic of Korea (DPRK) but was initially hesitant to enforce the sanctions authorized by the resolution. Pressure from the United States, though, persuaded China to carry out the sanctions in a limited manner.

Beijing is wary of destabilizing the North Korean regime ? which it initially helped prop up along with the Soviet Union?s assistance ? due to the possibilities of North Korean refugees pouring over the two countries? common border, which runs for thousands of kilometers. China is also opposed on ideological grounds to Korean Unification under the South Korean system, democratic as it is. It is also believed that a unified Korea would make territorial demands based on the former borders of what amounted to a Korean Empire in the past.

North Korea came under international condemnation following the detonation of a nuclear weapon in the country?s north last month, and for a time it seemed the world was poised on the brink of a military confrontation between North Korea, South Korea, China, America and Japan ? at the very least. Russia and China have been opposed to enforcing sanctions on their undemocratic allies, given the business and political interests the countries have developed in the dictatorial regime over the past five decades.