China warns USA: "Try to overthrow North Korean regime" and China will retaliate



According to a statement in the Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times, Beijing is cautioning that should the US and South Korea launch a preemptive strike to “overthrow the North Korean regime,” China would intervene militarily, on North Korea’s behalf.
China’s position on North Korea cannot be any clearer, removing the option that many US generals floated around…that of a preemptive attack on the DPNK in order to force a change in North Korea’s leadership.
Reuters cites the Global Times as saying…
“If the U.S. and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so.” 


As The Duran has reported, it is becoming clearer everyday that the only way forward in dealing with North Korea is through dialogue and diplomacy.



As Pyongyang and Washington traded threats, Russia and China weighed in.
In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that risks of a military conflict over North Korea’s nuclear program are very high and Moscow is deeply worried by the threats from Washington and Pyongyang.
Lavrov encouraged Pyongyang and Washington to sign up to a joint Russian-Chinese plan, under which North Korea would freeze its missile tests and the United States and South Korea would impose a moratorium on large-scale military exercises.
“The side that is stronger and cleverer” should take the first step to defuse the crisis, said Lavrov, speaking live on state television at a forum for Russian students.
Earlier in Beijing, a Chinese state-run newspaper said on Friday that China should remain neutral if North Korea launches an attack that threatens the United States, sounding a warning for Pyongyang over its plans to fire missiles near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.
Asian equity markets sank again on Friday and European stocks looked set for their worst week this year because of the tensions. [MKTS/GLOB]
“This situation is beginning to develop into this generation’s Cuban Missile crisis moment,” ING’s chief Asia economist, Robert Carnell, said in a research note. “While the U.S. president insists on ramping up the war of words, there is a decreasing chance of any diplomatic solution.”
China, North Korea’s most important ally and trading partner, has reiterated calls for calm. Beijing has expressed frustration with both Pyongyang’s repeated nuclear and missile tests and with behavior from South Korea and the United States, such as military drills, that it sees as increasing tensions.
“China should also make clear that if North Korea launches missiles that threaten U.S. soil first and the U.S. retaliates, China will stay neutral,” the Global Times, which is widely read but does not represent government policy, said in an editorial.
“If the U.S. and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so,” it said.
China’s Foreign Ministry repeated a call for all parties to speak and act cautiously and do more to ease the situation, rather than going down the “old path” of exchanges of shows of force and continually rising tension.
North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency said on Thursday its army would complete plans in mid-August to fire four intermediate-range missiles over Japan to land near Guam.
Trump said Kim was not going to get away with his “horrific” comments and disrespecting America.
“Let’s see what he does with Guam. He does something in Guam, it will be an event the likes of which nobody’s seen before, what will happen in North Korea,” Trump told reporters on Thursday in New Jersey, without offering specifics.
The United States and South Korea remain technically still at war with North Korea after the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a truce, not a peace treaty.





Report: President Trump To Announce “Section 301” Trade Investigations Against China on Monday


There have been multiple media reports in the last six hours that President Trump is going to announce trade investigation/sanctions against China during a press conference scheduled for Monday.
It makes sense the previously postponed 301 trade investigation against China for violations of intellectual property rights might be announced.
Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 provides the United States with the authority to enforce trade agreements, resolve trade disputes, and open foreign markets to U.S. goods and services. It is the principal statutory authority under which the United States may impose trade sanctions on foreign countries that either violate trade agreements or engage in other unfair trade practices. When negotiations to remove the offending trade practice fail, the United States may take action to raise import duties on the foreign country’s products as a means to rebalance lost concessions. (LINK)


Historically S-301 trade investigations are considered so scary to the receiving country that almost every nation just complies with USTR requests and the investigations became moot.  The sanctions which follow the 301 investigations are rarely needed.

Looking out for U.S. economic interests is the baseline for trade “leverage”, a tactic and skill uniquely evident in this administration’s trade team.  Section 301 is a tool, actually a massive atomic sledgehammer, to force compliance.

Again, what is often forgotten is that modern China has never seen the U.S. launch a 301 trade investigation against it, or anyone else.  China’s rise to economic power has been within two prior decades where prior U.S. administrations’ were selling out the American economy using the World Trade Organization (WTO), created in 1995.


This is why launching a series of 301 Trade Investigations is such a big deal.  The conclusions are drawn from facts, there’s no way to skewer the data or hide the tariff that China applies to U.S. goods.  If China applies a 35% import tariff on something, Section 301 allows the U.S. to apply the same tariff to the import of that something from China.

When you grasp how much this 301 equalizer can impact trade opponents, and recognize how one-sided our trade deals are with China, you begin to grasp how devastating it will be for China if 301’s are utilized.  This is atomic sledgehammer type unidirectional leverage.  China has nothing they can do, other than the silly threats they have already made.