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[ChairmanPoo]

There's also this to consider: China has been constantly looking for ways to showcase its role as a preeminent and ostensibly benevolent world power (the Olympics, the Shanghai Expo, sending warships to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden).

What better way to say, "Look! We're powerful and we're one of the good guys!" than by taking out a regime which is almost universally reviled and doing so while the US is still busy lacing up its boots and figuring out if it even CAN respond?

Pyongyang may have outlived its usefulness.

Yes, because the world would be reassured by having the largest, most populated dictatorship on Earth start behaving in an expansionist and aggressive way all of a sudden. I bet that noone would feel worried about that

[RedKing]

Considering the unease with which much of the world is coming to view the US and its military, I think the rise of China as a balancer would not be all that unwelcome. As long as China doesn't show any intent to expand into Europe or Japan, they'll get mostly a free pass from the rest of the world.

And given the hand-wringing over deficits and prolonged military deployment here in the US, I think a lot of people would be fine to let the Chinese do the dirty work.

And if there's one thing China knows well, it's how to use their military for propaganda purposes. You'd see broadcast after broadcast of happy Korean peasants being fed by smiling, heroic PLA soldiers -- while the US struggles to avoid causing civilian casualties in Afghanistan. The contrast would be pretty stark.

[Duke 2.0]

And if there's one thing China knows well, it's how to use their military for propaganda purposes.

More like their civilians are not their worst enemy. Once their civilians are out to find out whatever accidents and stories every military has to show how every military is crummy forever they can be considered true Americans.

[RedKing]

And if there's one thing China knows well, it's how to use their military for propaganda purposes.

More like their civilians are not their worst enemy. Once their civilians are out to find out whatever accidents and stories every military has to show how every military is crummy forever they can be considered true Americans.

I think part of the problem is that in the US, we typically assign those sorts of duties (disaster relief, humanitarian assistance) to the National Guard, and leave the Armed Forces proper to do the ugly business of killing on an industrial scale. The National Guard are well-liked for the most part (at least, since they stopped suppressing college protests with lethal force).

CCTV also has an entire channel devoted to the PLA. It's about half propaganda programs showcasing soldiers helping deliver food and medicine, saving people from floods and earthquakes, etc. The other half is actually pretty damn interesting stuff -- discussions of geopolitics, tactics, new weapon systems, etc.

We just have assorted drek on the History Channel, much of which is focused on how badass our forces are, or how badass they used to be in WWII.

[mainiac]

China welcomed as a counter balance to the US?  That's not very likely.  Can anybody name for me a country that has a good relationship with China?  Anybody?  Anybody?  Bueller?  I don't blame you for needing to think, the closest I can come up with is Australia.  There's a couple tinpot dictators in Africa, but how much do those count for?

How about countries that China actively threatens with war as a matter of standing foreign policy?  North Korea, South Korea, Russia, Japan, Vietnam, India, the US, UK and of course Taiwan.  And while nations like Indonesia, Thailand and France don't piss China off by existing, they sure aren't friends thanks to China's predatory trade policies hurting their own industries.  The fear that people have of the US is that it acts too much on the international stage.  That doesn't mean people want a different, far more belligerent power to start invading countries too.

On another subject, maybe if North Korea invades South Korea, the waiting list to join the marines will get shorter. 

[Jackrabbit]

I was under the impression that all those countries you listed are trying to maintain a good relationship with China, worried as they are about its economic strength.

Although as far as I'm aware, Australia is best buddies with China. Perhaps more so than with America, but I doubt it.

e: also, does this mean the biggest concern here is no longer North Korea, but China? And, if they do annex the North, will they annex the South as well? Because I've no idea.

[RedKing]

We'll have to agree to disagree on China's standing in the world. From where I sit, they've got pretty favorable relations with most countries. Yes, there are squabbles over floating their currency and some human rights issues. Overall, I think countries are still inclined to have smooth relations with the China moreso than the US.

I haven't seen China "actively threaten war" in quite some time. There's the ongoing dispute over the South Spratelys, but even there it's been realtively low-key. Even Taiwan has cooled significantly with the return of the KMT to power in Taipei.

About the only ones with regular flare-ups of problems in their relations with China are the US and Japan. And both of those are usually due more to their own domestic politics than some fundamental conflict between them and China.

But hey, the classics never go out of style, and apparently neither does the Red Scare/Yellow Menace. Maybe they'll combine and we can call it the Orange Terror.

[Jackrabbit]

But hey, the classics never go out of style, and apparently neither does the Red Scare/Yellow Menace. Maybe they'll combine and we can call it the Orange Terror.

Oh shit! Beaker!
Run for your lives.

[RedKing]

But hey, the classics never go out of style, and apparently neither does the Red Scare/Yellow Menace. Maybe they'll combine and we can call it the Orange Terror.

Oh shit! Beaker!
Run for your lives.

WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW?

[RedWarrior0]

How about countries that China actively threatens with war as a matter of standing foreign policy?  ... Taiwan.

The People's Republic of China thanks you for your concern but must remind you that Taiwan is a part of China.

Anyways, as was said earlier, China and the US can't go to war, and if forced to choose between fighting the most technologically advanced and powerful conventional army in the world or routing out NK regulars or guerrillas in the mountains next door, it should be an easy choice: they have an army of a million men, a rout shouldn't take that long. Plus, may I direct your attention to UNSC Resolution 82. So China is sort of in a tight spot: repealing Resolution 82 would require avoiding a US veto, and ignoring it would put them in a sticky situation internationally because the Security Council actually has power.

[Sowelu]

Weren't there vague mumblings of one of Kim Jong Il's sons starting to step up and take the reins?

That's what first came to mind when I saw this.  He's got his own ideas of what ought to happen, and maybe he's a little more in control than we'd guess.

[RedKing]

Possibly, although I think if anything it's more of a "Hey, don't think we're soft just because Future Glorious Leader Kim Jong Un looks like Chunk from The Goonies! We're still crazy!"

Although The Onion had their own take on that.

[Sir Finkus]

This is the most likely outcome
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIO4Uw36-JE&feature=related

[Leafsnail]

Hmm... they didn't really think he'd become leader, though.  It was gonna be his older brother until he tried to run off to go to Disneyland.

[nenjin]

Yeah, I think the future glorious leader wanted to make a big propoganda splash. And since they tell the NK people on a daily basis that the South wants to get them....he probably figured they needed to up the ante and actually fire some weapons. He probably feels quite safe doing this diplomatically. Except for South Korea, no one is in a hurry to make war on North Korea, and NK knows it.

If it's one thing NK has become masterful at, it's tactical antagonism.