ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the evolution of China's approach to the North Korean nuclear issue. It highlights that China has been opposed to North Korean nuclearization, and has provided little if any material assistance to its nuclear weapons program. The chapter argues that two variables led China to adopt a sheltering strategy. First, China's opposition to North Korea's nuclear weapons program is due to its fear of nuclear cascade effects and other unfavorable changes in the military doctrines of competitors in the region. But second, Beijing must protect the North Korean regime because of the smaller country's major extrinsic value. In 1956, North Korea signed two nuclear cooperation agreements with the Soviet Union, and in an additional protocol from 1959, the Soviets agreed to establish a nuclear research center in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's. The chapter outlines why the first nuclear crisis erupted in 1993–1994, and examines China's policies.
