Exchange of "military technologies": China concerned about cooperation between North Korea and Russia

FR Exchange of "military technologies": China concerned about cooperation between North Korea and Russia Alexander Görlach • 20 hours • 3 minutes reading time North Korea has sent thousands of soldiers to the Ukraine war - "with unforeseen consequences for peace on the Korean peninsula". China is also concerned. Whether it's the Ukraine war, the threatening rise of China or Donald Trump's renewed victory in the US election: our world is in upheaval. Authoritarian regimes are gaining momentum, Western democracies are on the defensive. For IPPEN.MEDIA, Alexander Görlach regularly looks at the world's hot spots in the video column "Görlach's World Events". Görlach is a geopolitics expert and teaches at New York University. Mr. Görlach, will the situation in the Taiwan conflict escalate in 2025? Xi Jinping's strategy includes annexing the Western Pacific. That is why Taiwan and the Philippines are to lose parts of their seas. In 2024, there were more provocations by the Chinese navy and the Chinese air force in Taiwan's airspace than ever before. This means that observers assume that these provocations will continue in the new year - with the aim of wearing down the armies of the Philippines and Taiwan. However, both countries are allies of the USA, so every provocation, every misguided provocation, always brings with it the risk of a new war. How will Donald Trump behave in the conflict? The choice of his foreign minister and national security advisor suggest that Donald Trump will continue the policy he pursued towards China in his first term in office in his second. And that's not all: he will also continue Joe Biden's alliance policy, which means: support for the Philippines, support for Taiwan. At the same time, of course, he will always demand that countries do enough to ensure their own security. But I think his administration understands that peace in East Asia depends largely on whether the United States stays on board. "China is increasingly concerned about the cooperation between North Korea and Russia" About the person Is Beijing concerned about the increasing cooperation between Russia and North Korea? Beijing is increasingly concerned about the cooperation between North Korea and Russia. Military technologies are being exchanged, and even 10,000 soldiers from North Korea have been sent to the front in Ukraine. Cooperation with Russia could lead to Kim Jong-un ultimately being able to successfully complete his nuclear program, with unimagined consequences for peace on the Korean peninsula. South Korea is an ally of the USA, whereas North Korea is protected by China, which means that a conflict that breaks out there again could force the two world powers directly into a military confrontation. Where is China heading domestically? Economically, 2024 was not a successful year for the People's Republic of China. Domestic consumption is not picking up, the real estate crisis is still simmering, and punitive tariffs are being imposed on electric vehicles, which are to be exported all over the world with a lot of subsidies from the Chinese Communist Party. This means that when things are not going well economically, the domestic political mood is not good either, and dictators like to go back to their handbook and tighten the screws. This was particularly evident in the sentencing of 55 democracy activists in Hong Kong. This is intended to show the rest of the country that even in 2025, no one can be above the Chinese Communist Party.