ABSTRACT
In an attempt to begin to better understand Chinese military strategy for the Korean peninsula, several well-informed Chinese diplomats and senior military officers were consulted over a period of more than a year. In some circles, the conventional wisdom is that China shares with Japan a largely unspoken desire to prolong the Korean division. China, even if its sees war as unlikely, is deeply concerned about developments in North Korea, a bordering state that has historically affected the security and stability of China. The Chinese government has steadily become more troubled by North Korea's domestic difficulties. Beijing, according to sources in Beijing and Washington, then dispatched to South Korea a delegation headed by the director of its Ministry of National Defense Foreign Affairs Bureau, Major General Luo Bin. China's strategy with respect to Korea now and in the future is not set in stone any more than is that of the United States.
