Finally! A Senior Administration Official Calls Chinese Counterpart About North Korea

For an administration which loves to talk about "reaching out to regimes such as Iran, Syria and/or the Taliban," they have been very slow in reaching out to the Chinese for help in curbing the whims and whines of Crazy Kim Jong Un the North Korean Dictator.


Surely there have been low level meetings/discussions but today is the first public announcement of a Cabinet Secretary calling North Korea's sugar daddy China, for help with the North Korean threats.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Tuesday that North Korea's development of nuclear weapons poses a "growing threat" to the U.S. and its allies.

In a telephone call Tuesday evening to Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan, Hagel cited North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles and said Washington and Beijing should continue to cooperate on those problems.

"The secretary emphasized the growing threat to the U.S. and our allies posed by North Korea's aggressive pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and expressed to General Chang the importance of sustained U.S.-China dialogue and cooperation on these issues," Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement describing the phone call.

Little also disclosed that Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will visit China later this month. It would be Dempsey's first trip to China as head of the Joint Chiefs.

Hagel also invited the Chinese defense minister to visit the United States this year.

On Monday  the Washington Free Beacon reported that China has placed its military forces in the northeastern part of the country on heightened alert.  And tensions have continued to rise since then with the North declaring they will resume plutonium production -- the most common fuel in nuclear weapons -- and other facilities at the main Nyongbyon nuclear complex.

Today the Pentagon announced that two destroyer warships, the USS Decatur and USS McCain, have arrived in the region as part of a missile-defense mission. Previously, the Pentagon had only mentioned that it had moved the USS McCain to the region.

It is in China's interest to calm the rising calls for belligerence between the North Koreans and the South along with the United States.  Their strategy for dominance is more of an economic one and nothing will "screw that up" more than a War especially one that involves the United States who is not only a huge trading partner but a nation which owes China over a trillion dollars (which isn't chump change to anyone outside the Democratic Party).

Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking Tuesday at a news conference with the visiting foreign minister of South Korea, said recent belligerent rhetoric from North Korea is "unacceptable" and that the U.S. will defend itself, as well as South Korea and Japan, from any threat from the North.

The amount of hostile language from North Korea in recent weeks was "extraordinary," Kerry said, adding that the isolated state should have no doubt that the U.S. will fulfill its treaty obligations to allies in the region.

Its hard to understand why it took so long, but it is a positive step that a cabinet secretary reached out to his Chinese counterpart.  China has the best chance of twisting North Korean arms.