The Chinese are active on all fronts and in many ways, some more subtle than others, some in which it seems to me that we are willfully blind (Panama Canal).
North Korea is the creation and puppet of Beijing and there are a ton of dots just waiting to be connected between China, NK, Pakistan and Iraq.
Watch for the current administration to start making the connections public if and/or when NK tries to make diversionary moves on our Pacific flank.
That would indeed be interesting. It's pretty obvious that both Pakistan and N. Korea got some help for their nuclear programs after China got our technology.
And I don't believe that Zemin was traveling throughout central Asia and South America, etc. looking for sales contracts for their plastic key ring industry :)