Let’s hope this is true if North Korea collapses:

Chinese People`s Liberation Army (PLA) Assistant to the Chief of General Staff Zhang Qinsheng said in October, “Even in case an emergency breaks out on the Korean Peninsula, there is little possibility of Chinese military intervention.”

Assistant Chief Zhang, who ranks third in power order within the General Staff Office and has the deep trust of President Hu Jintao, made the aforementioned comment during a closed seminar carried out from October 22 to 24 in Beijing.

Being asked whether the Chinese military will intervene in case an abrupt situation arises in North Korea, he answered, “The Chinese military prefers the matter be solved by international bodies, especially the UN. If you see Chinese military involved, it would be in the form of a party to a UN force.”

Like I said before, let’s hope this is true, but I have a hard time believing that the Chinese will stand by doing nothing if North Korea collapses, especially if it is before the 2008 Olympics.  The only way the I don’t see the Chinese getting involved in a collapsed North Korea is if the South Koreans do not quickly occupy the North.  The South Koreans need to occupy and seal the borders before either the Chinese or Russians can organize a force to move into North Korea.  As far as the US involvement in a collapsed North Korea I have long maintained the US should not deploy troops to North Korea for a variety of reasons.

If the Chinese do get involved they have no plans of creating a unified, democratic Korean peninsula, but to avoid foreign intervention into Korean affairs that would continue the division of the peninsula the South Koreans need to have a viable and quickly implementable plan to quickly occupy North Korea.  However, no such plan exists due to South Korean governmental incompetency that unless reversed, will ensure the peninsula will remain divided well into the future.