Yet China’s preoccupation with its internal politics is such that it cannot see the price that it pays for reacting to every North Korean outrage with only vague opprobrium, combined with expressions of hope-over-experience that North Korea will reform. For example, the equanimity of its response to North Korea’s military attacks against South Korea in 2010 left South Koreans, who are also China’s neighbors, in despair about bilateral relations.
中国对一直渴求核武器的朝鲜的支持就是一个例子。世界上没有哪个负责任的大国会认为朝鲜的做法能够产生什么好处。但是中国过于关注其国内政治，以致每次朝鲜胡作非为时都只会表示暧昧的遗憾之情，并不切实际地表达对朝鲜改革的希望。中国对2010年朝鲜炮击韩国延坪岛事件视若无睹，让许多同为邻居的韩国人对两国关系大感绝望。