N Korea pulls 'Pak' for China
Just before Chinese President Xi Jinping was supposed to bask in the power of global prestige at the carefully choreographed BRICS summit in Xiamen, North Korea detonated its sixth bomb. It not only shook dwellings in China and revived fears of nuclear pollution in its northeast region, rather with the exquisite timing of the detonation – the Kim Jong-un government had created maximum discomfiture to China. Kim's latest provocation, however, some believe, was deliberately timed to upstage the start of the annual BRICS summit in China. This exposes not only the scale of the North Korean challenge now facing China's president but also his dearth of options. Incidentally, it was not the first time that North Korea had chosen a confrontational event to flaunt its weapons. In May, the Kim government launched a ballistic missile, hours before the Chinese President was addressing the world leaders in Beijing about China's signature trillion-dollar 'One Road, One Belt' project. And, when this ongoing BRICS Summit could be a crucial moment for India and China seeking to reconcile post-Doklam detente, the confluence of North Korea's nuclear testing appears to be intentional as a means to show that a small and rogue neighbouring state can diminish China's power and prestige as Kim knows that Xi has the real power to affect the calculus in Washington. Everyone knows that North Korea wants talks with Washington, to reduce American troops in South Korea and leave them with their nuclear weapons. And in Kim's calculation, China has the influence to make that negotiation happen. As far as the BRICS summit is concerned, China – contemplating to create a Sino-centric global empire – will have no problem in getting Russia and South Africa on its side for a pompous Belt and Road Initiative.
