Is Chinese General Giving A Warning to the Kim Regime?

Reading between the lines here this Chinese General appears to be signaling to the North Koreans that they will not save the Kim regime if they do something foolish like start a war.  However, I see nothing in here that says they will not get involved to stabilize a post-Kim regime North Korea after they do something foolish:

China would not help save North Korea even if the neighboring North’s regime collapses, a former general of China’s military said Tuesday, in rare explicit comments that possibly reflect Beijing’s growing frustration with its unpredictable ally.

“China is not a savior,” Wang Hongguang, former deputy commander of the Nanjing military region of the People’s Liberation Army, wrote in an op-ed published by the Global Times newspaper, which has close ties with China’s ruling Communist Party.

“If North Korea really collapses, even China can’t save it,” Wang said.

The comments by Wang were in response to a recent contribution by another Chinese expert, who urged Beijing not to “abandon” North Korea.  [Yonhap]

Here is more of what Wang had to say from the South China Morning Post:

Wang said China would not get involved in any new war on the Korean peninsula.

“China cannot influence the situation on the Korean peninsula … China has no need to light a fire and get burnt. Whoever provokes a conflagration bears responsibility,” he wrote. “Now there is no more ’socialist camp’. It is not necessary for China’s younger generation to fight a war for another country.”

Wang criticised the North for its nuclear development, using it as an example of how the country’s interests can differ from China’s and saying it had “already brought about the serious threat of nuclear contamination in China’s border area”.

But he also slammed Western countries for “demonising” North Korea and interfering in its internal affairs in the name of human rights. “China absolutely does not meddle,” he wrote.

Beijing will “support what should be supported and oppose what should be opposed” regarding the North, Wang said, indicating that China was not ready to completely give up on its troublesome neighbour.

China will neither “court” nor “abandon” North Korea, he wrote. “This should be China’s basic attitude.” [South China Morning Post]

You can read more at the link.