Thus, China’s ability to bring North Korea into line – a capacity that the US, in particular, believes Xi has – may in fact depend on the outcome of a more epochal struggle to bring the PLA fully under central authority. Twenty-five years after the military rescued the Party by crushing pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, Xi’s potential strategy for doing so – a purge of high-level military figures – may incite a major internal fight.
因此，中国让朝鲜就范的能力——特别是美国相信习近平有此能力——实际上取决于让解放军完全听命于中央的意义更加重大的斗争。二十五年前，军队镇压了天安门广场民主示威者，挽救了中共。如今，习近平的清洗军队高层的战略可能引发剧烈的内斗。