Sanctions are pushing nations to turn to nuclear weapons, only security guarantees stop them. Anyway, north Korea is a nuclear weapons state now. A poor, unstable nuclear power means a lot more risk than a stable, wealthy one. If China had really wanted to stop North Korea from developing nuclear weapons, then China should have more clearly reaffirmed its commitment to fight for north Korea if it gets invaded. Same for Iran, sanctions lead to the opposite outcome of what is the original intention. That should be pretty obvious by now
Learn some history. North Korea was much closer to the Soviet Union than China and the Kims have purged all China-friendly elements right after the Korea War. How do you know China didn’t guarantee security for the Kims? The US would have bombed North Korea long before they got nukes if not for China’ backing.
A thousand Chinese entities got sanctioned. Could be a LOT more.
And investing in Argentina or burning money in Pakistan is profitable? Countries that have been starved of capital are the ones that give the most return when they get access to capital. Quite a lot of BRI projects are more political than purely profit driven
Argentina isn’t next to China and PLA can’t reach it. Pakistan is a neighbour and plays an important role of balancing India
Powerful allies are not symbolic gestures. And if China had spoiled sanctions before, the west wouldn't have bothered sanctioning Russia and China itself as much as they have. Sanctions are being used because the west believes they work.
Picking fights helps China’s economic development in what way?
The war happened a long time ago. Sure, it's a success that North Korea survives. But wouldn't it be even better if they were a bit stronger and didn't need as much help? Wouldn't it be useful for the northeastern provinces to have a nearby trading partner? Currently, North Korea is always close to collapse just because they are so poor. What's is China gaining today from keeping them poor?
Again, learn some history. The Kims weren’t and still aren’t interested in obtaining Chinese help.
China had a powerful army after the civil war and then developed nuclear weapons. After security was established, the economy could take off. Of course only countries that are under constant threat of invasion or bombing are forced to put security above economics
Ya, life in China was so great in the 60-80 period. Ask your parents or grandparents about that period if they grew up in China.
Arguably China couldn't conduct a larger war against Vietnam because of the threat of a Soviet invasion from the north. And the Soviet Union didn't enforce sanctions against countries that wanted to be its allies.
We are today in the absurd situation that countries fear American sanctions not because of the US markets but because China enforces American sanctions even as there are new sanctions on Chinese companies every week
China needs useful allies, not ungrateful leeches. Soviet Union had plenty of allies, how did that turned out?
