China has the power to usher in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula — and should take a leading role in doing so, James Baker told NBC News.
China has the power to usher in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula — and should take a leading role in doing so, even if that means eventually bringing about regime change, former Secretary of State James Baker told NBC News Wednesday in an exclusive interview.
Baker, who sat down with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell for a wide-ranging discussion about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s recent trip to China and other topics, explained that a nuclear-armed Pyongyang is as bad for Beijing as it is for the U. S.
“What I’m struck by, really, frankly, Andrea, is that the United States and China both have a problem with the past behavior of North Korea and Kim Jong Un,” he said. “I mean, China’s not happy with the idea that they’re going to have a heavily nuclear-armed Korean Peninsula right there on their border. They don’t want to see that. We don’t want to see that.”
Baker, who served as secretary of state for President George H. W. Bush, as Treasury Secretary to President Ronald Reagan and Undersecretary of Commerce to President Gerald Ford, also said he would have preferred to see the U. S. work more closely with China ahead of Kim’s recent visit there.
“I think it’s too bad that there wasn’t some way that we could work with the Chinese to achieve this, this result of denuclearization of the peninsula,” he said. “China is the only country in the world that really has any influence, significant influence on North Korea.
