If, as expected, Xi Jinping (pictured) replaces Hu Jintao as China's leader in 2012, let's hope this partisan story out of South Korea is wrong. The Lee Myung-bak Government certainly seems to think it is incorrect.
The story claims that Xi sees Japan and South Korea as the 'disrupters of the peace on the Korean peninsula'. Oddly, he seems to exonerate nuclear-tipped North Korea from any responsibility. It also claims Xi supports Pyongyang's long-standing claim that the US and North Korea should conduct bilateral talks on the future of the Korean peninsula — a double whammy for the South and Japan.
Beijing's reaction to the sinking of the Cheonan reminded us that the 'lips and teeth' alliance between China and North Korea is as close as ever. On a related matter, South Korean authorities have arrested another spy from the North.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
