Donald Trump criticizes China for illicit oil sales to North Korea.

Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to reporters. Reuters. 

Donald Trump has criticized China for illicit oil sales to North Korea. Reuters. China has denied claims from a South Korean newspaper that showed pictures of Chinese and North Korean ships transferring oil and coal. Oil sanctions have been put into place after North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile tests. Sanctions have little effect if they are bypassed by countries. 

Caught RED HANDED - very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2017

My Comment:
It's pretty funny that the Chinese are denying these reports. I've seen the satellite photos and they are fairly undeniable.  It's clear that Chinese ships are transferring oil and other valuables to North Korean ships. It's only for plausible deniability that the Chinese are making these claims.

So why would the Chinese stab us in the back on this issue? Part of it might just be plain old greed. Though North Korea doesn't have that much money they still have enough to pay for oil and coal. Sanctions hurt both the North Koreans and anyone who does business with them, including the Chinese.

I think there is more too it though. Though North Korea has long existed as a vassal state to China it's clear that the regime represents a threat to them as well. North Korea's nuclear, biological and chemical weapons could be used against China and would cause untold casualties.

China also fears that North Korea could collapse if it doesn't help to prop it up. Though Kim Jong Un is largely an incompetent leader China fears if he falls, the resulting refugee crisis would be a disaster for them. They probably look at what is happening in Europe right now with their refugee crisis and see that as something they obviously want to avoid. China can ill afford to either provide for those refugees or pay the political and military costs that preventing them from entering would cause.

Will China continue to go behind our backs? I am not sure. Trump and President Xi have a fairly good relationship. They rolled out the red carpet for Trump and Trump impressed them on his trip to Asia. Indeed, though this is a step backwards I don't think our relations with China are that damaged.

Still, nothing about making this public changes what I wrote above. China has very good reasons to avoid these sanctions. As long as those downsides are greater than the upsides they will likely continue to prop on the North Korean regime. I have no doubt that they are still pressuring Kim Jong Un into giving up their nuclear weapons but as long as they stand to gain economically and politically from propping him up they will likely try to avoid sanctions.