Do you remember the first few weeks of elementary school? Because, when looking at the other side of the globe, it seems like some leaders forgot life lessons taught to them when they were children.
Like many important current events around the world, recent events in Asia have been mottled with varying opinions and sources. The good thing is, it can be summed up in a relatively simple theoretical playground setting. You see, there’s this Kim Jong-un kid. And Kim Jong-un, a little smaller than the big kids, has always been a problem child. He just wants to show off, cutting corners in the process and therefore getting ahead of himself in becoming a big boy. Now, the other kids would put Kim Jong-un in his place if it weren’t for his best friend: China. China got his growth spurt recently, so now China is one of those kids who likes to throw sand in other kids’ eyes whenever they question his authority. But mostly, he does so because he can.
There are some slight differences from the reality of this situation. In real life, Kim Jong-un, the dictator of North Korea, is the leader of millions of starving citizens. He also works to progress his country’s ability to develop nuclear weapons. Whether it was actually a hydrogen bomb, the bottom line is that Kim Jong-un is attempting to place billions of lives in danger and break every international treaty on nuclear weapons in the process. Yet, the rest of the world can’t do a thing about it.
Usually when you break the playground rules, you have to sit in timeout or are prohibited altogether from having fun on the democratic and peaceful seesaw. The United Nations Security Council has drafted a resolution in response to North Korea’s nuclear testing that delivers heavy sanctions upon the country. Like Iran, like Russia, like Syria, the sanctions probably aren’t going to do much good here, either. However, according to The New York Times, as China and North Korea have been strong allies for six decades straight, China would very likely be the deciding factor in persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.
The problem is that China is not going to push North Korea in the right direction — not because of complex yet rational reasoning, but because of mentalities many of us learned about back in kindergarten. People can use as much jargon as they want to about China and North Korea having strong economic ties, but the world’s second largest economy doesn’t rely on a highly underdeveloped country for trade. In fact, according to China Daily, China’s economic relationship with South Korea is worth billions of dollars more than that with North Korea. Therefore, China’s refusal to crack down on North Korea simply stems from China’s opportunity to throw sand in the eyes of the U.S. and other UN members.
To those who see North Korea’s situation as nothing serious, refer to a similar affair three years ago. Today’s relationship between Kim Jong-un and China is very similar to that of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and Russia.
Many didn’t take that alliance very seriously, either. Now we have a refugee crisis, two failed states and a terrorist organization striking fear on the world. Countries, like children, eventually grow to become stronger. No matter how much he would like to think so, Kim Jong-un will not live forever. Once he dies, there will be a regime change in North Korea. But at that point, it may be too late for the world to intervene.
It should not be the sole responsibility of China to carry out stronger future policies against dictators. We don’t have to look halfway across the world to see power that could potentially do much good but becomes dangerous in the hands of infantile leaders. It’s not that I bleed apple pie or bald eagles, but the U.S. has always played big brother due to the size of its military. Moral judgements aside, that is part of America’s history. It seems the saying, “let the adults handle this,” can’t be used much anymore. Anyone remember who’s running for president again?
Joshua Udvardy is a UF engineering freshman. His column appears on Wednesdays.
