Chinese Business Relations with North Korea Faltering

[Randy W]

Chinese traders backing off North Korea as sanctions bite

 

Global Times

 

 

However, China reduced cross-border trade in a backlash against the North's rocket launches and threats of violence. Official statistics from Dandong's Foreign Trade Administrative Department showed Chinese exports to North Korea dropped from $320 million in the first four months of last year to $280 million in the same period this year.

. . .

Individual companies are also implicated. "The unstable political situation in North Korea has meant uncertainty for our business there. Our company has been reducing our investments and trade with the North this year," Wang Tao, the deputy general manager of a Dandong import and trade company, told the Global Times. Wang's company has been trading with North Korea since the 1990s, including mining exploration, commodities and processing trading.

Government-led cooperation between China and North Korea is also faltering.

In September 2012, China and North Korea announced the launch of a special economic zone (SEZ) on the islands of Hwanggumpyong and Wihwa. With top officials of both countries attending the launch, China was granted a 100-year lease over the islands and the two countries agreed to build an industrial park where Chinese companies could build factories and employ North Koreans.

As a plan to spur bilateral economics, both nations also decided to build a new four-lane bridge in the new district of Dandong to replace the old one which has been in use for decades. China took on the entire cost of $300 million for the new bridge.

 

Since then, two years have passed and none of the plans have been materialized.