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by xiaoma 3208 days ago
>"I would like to see the fall of NK, but seriously you cannot blame the Chinese for supporting NK in the past and mainly for one reason. That reason is that NK is the buffer zone between China and the 30,000 US troops stationed in SK. Heck what about the 40,000+ troops stationed in Japan."

A lot of people forget that the those troops are the very reason Japan, South Korea and many other countries in the region haven't developed nuclear arsenals themselves. The post WWII agreement has essentially been "the US promises to protect its allies and in exchange they limit their military investments and don't pursue nuclear weapons".

As much as China might not like US bases in neighboring countries, it's a lot better than if all of its neighbors had or were in the process of developing nukes. That scenario is a nightmare with too many ways of going horribly wrong.
2 comments
noir_lord 3208 days ago
Given the Japanese are some of the finest engineers on the planet and that they've had a peaceful nuclear program for decades it's not a leap to think that somewhere the Japanese have the blue prints for sophisticated nuclear weapons ready to go in the event they needed to build them quickly.
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krapp 3208 days ago
I would be shocked if someone in the Japanese government didn't have a classified report somewhere telling them precisely how long that would take, down to the minute.
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kumarvvr 3208 days ago
One more incentive for China is that in the scenario where the US is severely weakened, it will be a regional power with nukes sitting among prosperous nations not having nukes.

It's an infinitely better situation then for China, rather than being surrounded by nuclear armed countries.

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noir_lord 3208 days ago
> power with nukes sitting among prosperous nations not having nukes.

Briefly, then the Japanese will finish their crash program and also be a nuclear power.

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kumarvvr 3208 days ago
Well, yes. So will the others. But in the present scenario, China atleast has a head start, has the resources and clout to discourage or sanction countries going towards nukes.

Still a better situation than facing countries already armed with nukes.

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