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| China-Japan-Koreas | |
| China Ships No Oil to N.Korea in February | |
| 2013-03-23 | |
China, North Korea's sole real ally, normally supplies 30,000-50,000 tons of crude oil a month to the North. Its crude oil shipments to North Korea totaled 523,041 tons in 2012. Some believe the suspension of shipments is further evidence that Beijing is losing patience with Pyongyang's brinkmanship tactics. They suspect it was triggered by the NorthÂ’s refusal to listen to Beijing and cancel its nuclear test on Feb. 12. But a South Korean government official dismissed the speculation, saying it is quite usual for China not to ship crude oil to the North in February due to seasonal factors. According to the Korea International Trade Association in Seoul, China several times shipped no crude oil to the North in February between 2000 and 2012. There were only February shipments in four years -- 2001, 2004, 2009, and 2010 -- over the past 13 years, and their volume was well below average. The problem is that the Chinese government's official data do not reflect the whole picture. "China's free aid shipments of crude oil to the North aren't reflected in customs data," a Unification Ministry official here said. "So if no shipments are shown, it doesn't necessarily mean that there were none." "It's possible that China actually sent crude oil shipments to the North in the form of unofficial aid," he added. A diplomatic source in Beijing said, "There's no report yet that China has cut off crude oil shipments to the North. I don't think there's an urgent reason for China to take such an extreme measure." | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 More to the point, has China stopped North Korean transshipments of artificial $100 bills, real white juche (whichever drugs that happens to be this week), and nuclear and other weapons supplies? Venezuela may not be as interested as heretofore, but the queue is nonetheless getting longer. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-03-23 20:19 |
| #3 Pudgy better listen to that little voice, or he'l get no Oil. And damn near nothing else. (Course hey NEED nothing else, Channeling the Nork Line here.) |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2013-03-23 06:05 |
| #2 Theydin' stop tree bark shipments did thry |
| Posted by: chris 2013-03-23 01:51 |
| #1 "Theres no report yet that China cut off crude oil shipments to the North" > AAAWWWWW, I wanted to say it. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2013-03-23 00:08 |