[pinkpanther111]

China delivered a blunt message to North Korea yesterday when it told its leader, Kim Jong-il, that he must not proceed with a second nuclear weapons test.

FINALLY!

[NYFriend]

Gotta understand how the Chinese think. Before they made this "blunt" and public statement, there would have been backchannel discussions telling DPRK to backoff. This clear public message either means that: 1) Kim has signaled that he'll back down, or 2) China is now making a real serious threat along the lines of, "knock it off or we'll end your rule".

China's not exactly on our side. They are their own side. They want to be top dog in Asia. The worst ending for them is to lose control of DPRK. That first test looks like a threat to us, ROK, and Japan, but to China it's a slap in the face.