Evergrande bankruptcy + North Korea’s missiles

North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-un has conducted more missile tests this year than in the past five years combined. And it is only March. Beijing is upset about rockets fired at its border. Regardless, China still needs North Korea as a buffer between itself and US ally South Korea. It was only in late February that China’s leader, Xi Jinping, stressed the importance of bilateral cooperation with Pyongyang. A difficult diplomatic act, notes Christiane Kuehl. On closer inspection, the similarities to Russia are striking. Both North Korea and Russia are important partners against the West. Yet both act unpredictably. And now the international community also sees Russia, like North Korea, as an aggressor. This is why the back-and-forth of Chinese communication with its difficult allies seems so similar.

The liquidation of bankrupt Chinese real estate group Evergrande also remains an unprecedented balancing act. On Tuesday, the company reported that it will miss the March 31 deadline to submit its annual balance sheet. The balance sheet, once released, will reveal the extent of its financial woes, writes Finn Mayer-Kuckuk. The stalling tactics towards its creditors, which the company has kept up for months, are only possible because Chinese law does not acknowledge delayed bankruptcy. However, using intransparency as a strategy also has its limits. Questionable lending and the accompanying cover-up of problems already caused the end of Japan’s decade-long boom at the end of the 1980s.

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Fabian Peltsch