The Global Times recently published a commentary critical of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea) by Lt General Wang Hongguang, a former Deputy Commander of the Nanjing Military Region, which was subsequently posted on a PLA website on December 2, 2014. The lengthy commentary asserted that "China has cleaned up the DPRK's mess too many times, but it doesn't have to do that in future." About the DPRK government, he observed, "If an administration isn't supported by the people 'collapse' is just a matter of time." Lt General Wang Hongguang also accused North Korea of violating the spirit of the mutual defence treaty with China by failing to consult with China on its nuclear weapons programme which, he said, has created instability in Northeast Asia.
Lt General Wang Hongguang's article has attracted attention because it disputes the viewpoint of another Chinese expert on North Korea, Prof Li Dunqiu, a former Director of the Office of Korean Affairs in China's State Council. Prof Li Dunqiu argued that North Korea was a strategic asset and China should not abandon it.
(Comment: Interestingly, Deng Yuwen, a former Deputy Editor of Study Times, the Central Party School journal, was dismissed in early 2013 for writing a negative piece about North Korea, while in December 2013, Lt General Wang Hongguang wrote an article where he described North Korea's nuclear weapons programme as a clear and present danger to China.
Lt General Wang Hongguang is a 'princeling' and his father was Wang Jianqing, who led Mao Zedong's troops in the fight against the Japanese in Nanjing at the end of World War II.)
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