\u00ab\u00a0If the bottom line is touched, China will employ all means available including the military means to strike back. By that time, it is not an issue of discussion whether China acquiesces in the US\u2019 blows, but the Chinese People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA)…<\/b>
With everyone putting down new and\/or revised\u00a0\u00bb red lines\u00a0\u00bb, be it on Syria or North Korea, it was now China’s turn to reveal its\u00a0\u00bbred\u00a0\u00bb or rather\u00a0\u00bbbottom line\u00a0\u00bb, and in a harshly worded editorial titled\u00a0\u00bbThe United States Must Not Choose a Wrong Direction to Break the DPRK Nuclear Deadlock on Wednesday\u00a0\u00bb Beijing warned it would attack North Korea’s facilities producing nuclear bombs, effectively engaging in an act of war, if North Korea crosses China’s\u00a0\u00bbbottom line.\u00a0\u00bb
The editorial in the military-focused Global Times tabloid, owned and operated by the Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper, said that North Korea\u2019s nuclear activities must not jeopardize northeastern China, and that if the North impacts China with its illicit nuclear tests through either\u00a0\u00bbnuclear leakage or pollution\u00a0\u00bb, then China will respond with force.
\u201cChina has a bottom line that it will protect at all costs, that is, the security and stability of northeast China… If the bottom line is touched, China will employ all means available including the military means to strike back. By that time, it is not an issue of discussion whether China acquiesces in the US\u2019 blows, but the Chinese People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) will launch attacks to DPRK nuclear facilities on its own.\u00a0\u00bb
This, as the editorial puts it, is the\u00a0\u00bbbottom line\u00a0\u00bb for China; should it be crossed China will employ all means available including the military means to strike back,\u00a0\u00bb warned the editorial.
It is worth noting is that shortly after publication, the article seems to have been retracted without explanation, the URL now returning a\u00a0\u00bb404″ error. However not before the original article was cached on a webpage owned by China Military, courtesy of google.
In the editorial, the author also declared that the\u00a0\u00bbPeople’s Liberation Army (PLA) will launch attacks to DPRK nuclear facilities on its own. A strike to nuclear facilities of the DPRK is the best military means in the opinion of the outside world.\u00a0\u00bb The northeastern Chinese provinces of Liaoning and Jilin share borders with North Korea. These two provinces and Heilongjiang are part of the Shenyang Military Region, one of seven military regions of the People’s Liberation Army.
The editorial also explained the advantages to the world of a Chinese attack on North Korea’s nuclear facilities.
It noted China and the world know the locations of North Korea’s nuclear facilities. Once the PLA attacks these nuclear sites, North Korea will permanently suspend its nuclear weapons programs.
North Korea\u00a0\u00bbhas limited resources of nuclear materials and is strictly blockaded in the outside world, erasing the possibility for DPRK to get the materials again.\u00a0\u00bb
China also noted that\u00a0\u00bb nuclear weapons is DPRK’s trump card for its defiance of China and the United States. Once this card is lost, it will become obedient immediately.\u00a0\u00bb
The author then speculated rhetorically that if North Korea’s\u00a0\u00bbnuclear facilities are destroyed, they will not even fight back, but probably block the news to fool its domestic people. The DPRK will freak out if its nuclear facilities are destroyed.\u00a0\u00bb And yes, a Chinese author said\u00a0\u00bbfreak out.\u00a0\u00bb
The report also said that\u00a0\u00bbthe DPRK must not fall into the turmoil to send a large number of refugees, it is not allowed to have a government that is hostile against China on the other side of the Yalu River, and the US military must not push forward its forces to the Yalu River.\u201d It notes that\u00a0\u00bbthis sentence is meant for the United States, because the premise of it is that the US military has launched attacks to the DPRK.\u00a0\u00bb
But what may be the most notable part of the oped is the mention in the Global Times editorial that North Korea will not be\u00a0\u00bbnot allowed to have a government that is hostile against China on the other side of the Yalu River.\u00a0\u00bb\u00a0 This implies that if and when the US initiate strikes on NK, the Chinese PLA will likely send out troops\u00a0\u00bbto lay the foundation\u00a0\u00bb for a favorable post-war situation.
In other words, China may be just waiting for Trump to\u00a0\u00bbdecapitate\u00a0\u00bb the North Korean regime, to pounce and immediately fill the power vacuum.<\/p>\n