North Korea continues to embarrass its nominal friend and ally, the People’s Republic of China. The North’s Kim Jong-un apparently ordered a hit on his half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, who was murdered at the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia airport.

Hillary Clinton is expected to be more belligerent than Obama in dealing with Beijing. But the U.S. cannot expect confrontational or coercive tactics to succeed. Doing so could damage further cooperation between the two countries and drive Beijing closer to North Korea. Instead, the U.S. should aim to take a more diplomatic approach to their relationship with Beijing.

The confrontation regarding plans for the THAAD system might lead to unbearable consequences if the situation gets worse. The only reasonable course for Washington and Seoul is to abandon the deployment.

In the face of risks and disagreements, the two sides should restart negotiations, and sincerely embark on the road of resolving both the unsettled state of war from the 1950s and the current stalemate over the THAAD deployment in South Korea.

Since North Korea conducts nuclear tests frequently and countries like the U.S., Japan, South Korea have strengthened their military deployments in and around the Korean Peninsula, China is facing unprecedented difficulties and challenges there.

By ignoring the Chinese, Kim Jong-un has been gambling with his regime’s future. The PRC appears more ready than ever before to abandon its troublesome friend. However, inertia—and a cold-hearted assessment of interests—is likely to hold Beijing back from cooperating with the U.S. if forced to choose America over Pyongyang.

There is little doubt that the so-called Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has lost Chinese public opinion. Doug Bandow argues that it would help if the U.S. and its allies, most obviously the Republic of Korea and Japan, made it easier for Beijing to effectively join America’s anti-Pyongyang coalition.

Many countries have strengthened the physical protection of nuclear materials and facilities, and stronger regulations have been put into place. Now that the Nuclear Security Summits are said to have served their purpose, it is time to translate political stances into additional concrete measures and investment in nuclear security.

Through interventionist misadventures in Iraq, Syria, and Libya, the U.S. has been a major contributing factor in the unrest and has proven incapable of maintaining peace and order by its own effort. China has a non-confrontational approach to international relations and can be an effective partner in complementing the U.S. in anti-terrorism efforts.

The Chinese policy towards the DPRK was not made purely out of ideological considerations but developed its shape today due to geopolitical factors. Unforeseen aggression and expansion by Western powers led to a popular Chinese belief that the Korean Peninsula was a ‘strategic security shield’ for China. Over the years as China's political prowess has only grown North Korea is no longer a 'shield' but rather the 'shielded.'