A Changing Calculus Towards North Korea in Beijing?

North Korea’s advances in nuclear weapons and missile technology, in combination with its recent escalation of bellicose rhetoric against the US and its allies, have triggered a reassessment in various quarters of the threat posed by North Korea. Even in China, which has a tradition of friendly relations with North Korea, there are signs of changing attitudes. China’s overall strategic assessment of North Korea may be changing, as North Korea goes from being an intermittently problematic but generally stable entity during the Kim Jong Il years to a source of regional instability under Kim Jong Un.