| Publication |
2010.
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| Summary/Abstract |
On May 25, 2009, North Korea conducted an underground test of a low-yield nuclear device, flaunting a Security Council resolution that had been passed in the wake of that state's first test two-and-a-half years before. The world waited 18 days for the Council to take concrete action in the form of a new round of sanctions. Although the measures passed were robust, some observers noted that China, with Russia, tried to 'dilute' them by making enforcement of financial sanctions non-mandatory, and complicating the practice of cargo inspections. Concerns were also raised about the extent to which China, wary about destabilizing North Korea and protecting its relations with Pyongyang, might be willing to implement the new provisions.1 More broadly, this case fits into a sequence of misgivings about China's participation in deliberations on a host of 'pariah' states, including North Korea, Iran, Myanmar, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
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