Krauthammer: Chinese Are 'Acting Rather Well' on North Korea Because They're Worried About Trump

Leah Barkoukis 

The U.S.’s missile strike against a Syrian airfield was not only retaliation against Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s use of chemical weapons against his own people, it also served as a notice to the world that there’s a new sheriff in town, and the U.S. is ready and willing to follow through on threats. 

Enter: China and North Korea. Trump essentially threatened China that if they don’t help solve the North Korea problem, a good trade deal with the U.S. is at risk.

Syndicate columnist Charles Krauthammer believes China is worried about Trump now and it may be the reason why they’re acting better about reining in the rogue nation.

"Let’s not forget about the stick,” he said on “Special Report with Bret Baier.” “This is an administration that unlike Obama, did something in Syria. Actually attacked an air base where the Russians were, that didn’t hit any Russians, but not afraid to do it. There a carrier group Winston, off the shores of North Korea. That sends a message, when you combine the two, the Chinese have to calculate that it is possible not likely, but possible this is a president who would actually do a preemptive attack, or at the least, in a year or so we’ll see it, shoot down a rocket that the North Koreans have launched. That will be another signal that Chinese are worried about how it is a Nixon effect. What is this man capable of doing, and that I think is having an effect on their being acting rather well so far on North Korea."

China has since turned back North Korean coal ships; an influential Chinese paper urged the country to halt its nuclear program; and the government sent tens of thousands of troops to the North Korean border ahead of this weekend's anniversary celebrations of the founding of the Kim regime.