1 hour old from the Economist:
[link to www.economist.com]

"But Mr Zhu also says China will not want to “corner” North Korea. At a conference in Seoul in December, Teng Jianqun, of the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing, said there were three views about policy on North Korea: that it is a troublemaker which China should abandon and treat as a security problem; that it is nothing to do with China and should be left alone; and that it is an old ally deserving of China’s full support.

Yet the consensus is that China’s prime interest is stability. The survival of the Kim dynasty ruling North Korea now seems bound up with its nuclear programme. So China may think that stepping up efforts to shut that down would not be in its interest. Certainly many Chinese scholars and, presumably, officials feel exasperated with North Korea and rather embarrassed by its antics. But China fears that collapse of the regime might lead to unrest, refugees crossing into China and the presence of American forces on the other side of China’s own borders. That would be even worse.

Plenty of voices still call for the continued support of the regime. Mr Teng recalled that “old diplomats” complained fiercely when China condemned North Korea’s nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. And Tang Ge, a commentator whose blogpost is translated on sinonk.com, a website, thunders against those who argue that North Korea no longer matters to China as a “strategic buffer” between it and the American troops in South Korea. On the contrary, he claims, supporting North Korea is a “small-cost big-benefit” activity."