{"59154":{"#nid":"59154","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Wang on Big Mac Diplomacy, U.S. \u0026 China Policy toward North Korea","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The Big Mac would do wonders to effect regime change in North Korea,\u0022  grins Fei-Ling Wang.  Alas, he adds that the irresistible balm of free trade with America is unlikely given the complex and multi-layered relations among the players in the North Korean situation and China\u0027s role and interest.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWang writes about China\u0027s policy toward the Korean peninsula and its increasing clout in the balance of relations between North and South Korea, Russia, Japan, China, and the U.S. in a soon to be published book Engaging North Korea: A Viable Alternative (edited by David Kang and Sung Chull Kim, State University of New York Press). \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EA professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, Wang has studied international relations within East Asia and with the U.S. for more than a decade.  His new research highlights three priorities of Chinese policy toward North Korea: 1) no war, 2) no unification with South Korea and, 3) no nuclear weapons.  Wang shows how goals one and three align with U.S. policy toward North Korea, though U.S. priorities are reversed (unification, especially on the South Korean terms, is not a major U.S. concern).  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWang believes that the U.S. holds a trump card that could resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, but says that we are unlikely to use it because of the complex interests of China and also those of Japan and South Korea, both of which have long standing issues with North Korea.  Though China is concerned about a nuclear arms race in the region as a result of North Korea having a nuclear weapon, China\u0027s policies toward the Korean peninsula are intended to maintain the status quo.  Not only does that serve their political and financial interests, but it has allowed China to take a seat among the world powers by supporting consensus around negotiating with North Korea to eliminate its nuclear weapons program and to be valued as an aid to peacekeeping.  It is a key aspect of the shared strategic interest between Beijing and Washington these days.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe increased deepened financial ties between the U.S. and China further lessens the likelihood that Washington would disrupt the status quo to \u0022solve\u0022  the North Korean nuclear issue unilaterally.  \u0022I expect that President Obama and his team have seen quickly that talking to this enemy is not that easy,\u0022  says Wang.  \u0022The U.S. occupies a pivotal role in this, but it is a complicated, multi-layer and multinational game.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAnd so with none of the players willing to rock the boat (except for the self-preserving moves by Pyongyang, North Korea\u0027s capital), the balancing act continues with North Korea holding on to their weapon and blustering and threatening in attempts to goad the U.S. into action that would guarantee their security and the major powers maintaining status quo.  None the less, North Korea remains a potentially explosive situation.  Game changers could be a coup de etat in North Korea, Pyongyang\u0027s move to share nuclear technology with terrorists, or the regime\u0027s political collapse.  There are also those in China increasingly arguing for it to reassert its historical power in the Korean peninsula, which can be another important factor to be reckoned with. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWang\u0027s Big Mac solution sounds better all the time.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u0022The Big Mac would do wonders to effect regime change in North Korea,\u0022  grins Fei-Ling Wang.  Alas, he adds that the irresistible balm of free trade with America is unlikely given the complex and multi-layered relations among the players in the North Korean situation and China\u0027s role and interest.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Wang on Big Mac Diplomacy \u0026 U.S. \u0026 China Policy toward North Kor"}],"uid":"27167","created_gmt":"2009-09-11 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:02:51","author":"Rebecca Keane","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2009-09-11T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2009-09-11T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"59155":{"id":"59155","type":"image","title":"tcx79536.jpg","body":null,"created":"1449176217","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:56:57","changed":"1475894393","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:39:53","alt":"","file":{"fid":"190880","name":"tcx79536.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tcx79536_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tcx79536_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":42959,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tcx79536_0.jpg?itok=-Q4Etq1F"}},"59156":{"id":"59156","type":"image","title":"taf84095.jpg","body":null,"created":"1449176217","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:56:57","changed":"1475894393","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:39:53","alt":"","file":{"fid":"190879","name":"taf84095.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/taf84095_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/taf84095_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":32713,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/taf84095_0.jpg?itok=gKDykyzJ"}}},"media_ids":["59155","59156"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.inta.gatech.edu\/","title":"Sam Nunn School of International Affairs"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.inta.gatech.edu\/faculty-staff\/listing.php?uID=37","title":"More about Wang"}],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"802","name":"China"},{"id":"2340","name":"korea"},{"id":"544","name":"Nuclear"},{"id":"10078","name":"nukes"},{"id":"767","name":"Policy"},{"id":"4800","name":"proliferation"},{"id":"6944","name":"Wang"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003ERebecca Keane\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=rkeane3\u0022\u003EContact Rebecca Keane\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-1720\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["rebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}