SHANGHAI, China -- My perspective for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to North Korea is that of the Chinese. I have been in Shanghai since just before his visit. The reports I have been reading and listening to are those of the Chinese media and my Chinese friends and colleagues.
In reply to my question as to why China had not used its connections with Pyongyang to support its reform and opening-up process, getting in ahead of Koizumi, one professor of international relations told me the Chinese government wants to maintain the status quo. Beijing is sending refugees back over the border because it is worried, he said, that if it doesn't there will be a flood of people entering China, which will lead to a collapse of the North Korean state and foster political instability in the region.
And the North Koreans do not want Chinese support for its present moves away from Stalinism. They regard the Chinese as political renegades who have betrayed the cause of pure socialism. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il was reportedly horrified by what he saw during his visit to Shanghai and Shenzhen last year. This is why the new special administrative region that North Korea is setting up, modeled on Hong Kong, will have a high wall to contain its political impact.