Thank you.
This is a big issue. There are a number of Chinese concerns. Probably the long-term strategic one is the United States and its relationship with Japan, with South Korea, the alliances, etc. First of all, they do not want, I believe, a unified Korea. I think it's going to happen. I think North Korea will ultimately implode, but they do not want to see U.S. forces on the Yalu River. Certainly part of my discussions informally with people was that China and the United States have to come to some sort of geopolitical, security, military deal to allow, ultimately, a unified Korea. China does have concerns about a dynamic unified Korea and what that would mean, but in the long term that should be a win-win situation.
If you go to Pyongyang these days, you'll certainly see a lot of Chinese carpetbaggers trying to make deals for a lot of the resources that North Korea has. I don't think our North Korean friends, comrades, have all the commercial wherewithal to make the best kind of deal. Then there's the question of corruption, but China wants to make sure that they can control resources.
The other thing that they are worried about is a flood of refugees. That, I believe, is a real disingenuous argument. If you look at Thailand and the boat people from Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam in the late seventies and early eighties—and I was there—Thailand, with the help of the international community, managed the refugee program with considerable difficulty, but it managed. China can help and manage any sort of influx of refugees without any problems, and there should be plans that the UN has to make sure that as North Korea continues to implode, North Koreans will stay put.