China’s Nuclear Influence

China’s Nuclear Influence

from The Diplomat by Trefor Moss

There are Chinese politicians who seem to revel in their country’s superpower status when they hold the stage at international events. President Hu Jintao certainly isn’t one of them. At this week’s Seoul Nuclear Security Summit, he displayed the diplomatic minimalism that has become his own kind of anti-trademark, advocating a “sensible and scientific approach to nuclear security” with a calmness that belied the nuclear crises bubbling in Asia and the Middle East.   A more flamboyant Chinese leader might have said this: that when it comes to nuclear security in 2012, China is the only power that matters. On the question of nuclear proliferation, there are essentially three countries the world is acutely concerned about: North Korea, Iran, and, to a lesser extent, Pakistan. And in all three cases, Beijing has more leverage than any other foreign government. As Pyongyang mixes its messages – promising to readmit IAEA nuclear inspectors while simultaneously ... Read More...