Here's Why China Is Soft On Kim Jong-un

North Korea’s regime did it again. It displayed its military capabilities with the launch of a long- range rocket.

That drew the angry protests of the world community, including that of the US and China, both of which called for measures to contain Kim Jong-un’s ambitions.

But, so far America and China have been divided on what these measures should be.

On the one side, America takes the hard stance, wanting the international community to impose sanctions on the North Korean regime. China on the other side advocates a soft stance, a dialogue with the North Korean regime.

Apparently, China isn’t ready to contain Kim Jong-un’s military ambitions, as the international community engaged in dialogues with North Korea’s regime before. But that strategy didn’t work. They just gave the rogue regime more time to develop new weapons.

Here is why China has chosen to hold a soft stick when dealing with North Korea’s regime, in our opinion.

For years, North Korea was China’s buffer against South Korea, Japan, and their closest ally -- the US, which sought to contain the spread of communism in the Asian-Pacific region.

That was a long time ago, when China was a small economy, striving to overcome the starvation of its people, following Mao Zedong’s failed communist experiment.

Now, North Korea continues to be China’s buffer against America South Korea, Japan and its allies, but it has assumed a new role: it has turned into a big cannon in China’s ambitions to control South China Sea.

There is a good reason for that: China is no longer a small economy striving to escape starvation, but the world’s second largest economy, ready to assume  leadership of the Asian-Pacific region.

The trouble is that America and its Asian allies have taken measures to contain China’s South China Sea ambitions.

Two months ago, Japan moved closer to South Korea by settling the “comfort women issue,” a move that angered China. In August, the US drew a line in the South China Sea, expanding its naval presence in the disputed island region, another move that angered China.

Simply put, China has been pushed to the corner. That’s why it needs North Korea ‘s cannon, as a bargaining chip in the South China Sea disputes.

“Anyone with any sense understands that North Korea is being supplemented with bits and pieces of technology from China for the testing,”writes a commentator in a previous piece posted here.“China is already controlling Un, and they allow him enough crumbs to try to aggregate South Korea and Japan. If and when the time comes for the US to consider Un a threat, the US will get China’s attention at that time and that time will come after the US current Administration is long gone and then it will mean something when China is served notice.”

That remains to be seen. In the meantime, China’s South China territorial ambitions have been reviving nationalist sentiments, and threatening the economic integration of the region.

That’s bad news for globalization and for Asian financial markets, which have already been under pressure from a falling Yuan and a slowing global economy.

Wall Street should keep a wary eye on the geopolitics of the region.