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Any attack by North Korea will be considered as an attack by China upon the United States and the appropriate retaliation will occur.

That may be one of the points conveyed over tea at the recent meeting. But it raises a few thoughts.

- Does China have the requisite degree of control over NK?
- How does China or the US for that matter measure "appropriate"?
- If China believes NK is ready to attack, would it motivate China to join in?
- If the U.S. responds with nuclear weapons, what amount will effectively neutralize China without seriously damaging the world's environment?
- How quickly could the US repair its economy if it were to lose the benefit of having China's goods on its shelves? Or, stated differently, how quickly could the US ramp up production of the day-to-day goods that China now provides?

- Does China have the requisite degree of control over NK?
Every one would like to think China does, but the better question would be which PLA faction would lose face and money if NK is bought low by Xi jimping;

- How does China or the US for that matter measure "appropriate"?
"appropriate" a political question with a political answer. Meaningless;

- If China believes NK is ready to attack, would it motivate China to join in?
The very idea that fallout could reach its NW provinces would be sufficient for China to join in against NK.

- If the U.S. responds with nuclear weapons, what amount will effectively neutralize China without seriously damaging the world's environment?
World's environment? Really! At that point no one cares about "the world's environment" - its win or die;

- How quickly could the US repair its economy if it were to lose the benefit of having China's goods on its shelves? Or, stated differently, how quickly could the US ramp up production of the day-to-day goods that China now provides?
After a nuclear exchange between China and the US it would likely take nearly 100 years to recover for both countries - everything modern would be fried including turbines to generate power (current 2 year backlog in Sweden where they are made). It would be a matter of how fast the turbines could be cranked out - maybe 20 a year if everything went well. As for dealing with radioactive craters, fallout, mass graves, plague, starvation, and exposure, there would be a lead time training new workers if any could be found among the living.