ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that China and North Korea's traditional particularistic, patron-clientele relationship, based on historical experience, ideological affinity, and Cold War logic, is now virtually over and will be gradually but surely replaced with a normal state-to-state relationship driven by hard-nosed national interests and mutual benefits. A study on Beijing-Pyongyang relations will also shed light on a host of major regional security issues such as peninsular stability, the US role in the region, and the regional power balance. A sudden shift in the global balance of power has turned out to be a mixed blessing for China's security, as its erstwhile predominant but identifiable concerns are being replaced by new uncertainties, including the absence of a time-proven counterweight to balance the sole superpower. The breakup of the Soviet Union and the Russian retreat from global influence have meant that the global context in which China and North Korea had based their foreign and security policy is undergoing dramatic changes.
