d by showing North Korean leaders examples of Chinese reform and 'domestic changes' (Yu p. 189). These efforts demonstrate China's commitment to stability on the Korean peninsula. The second reason for China's interest in Korean politics is because China has found South Korea to be a viable trading partner. Trade between the two countries was $2 billion in 1990 and had grown to $20 billion by 1992. China is now the third largest trading partner of South Korea. But trade with South Korea is not only important for the revenue that it brings in but also for the technology that South Korea brings into China (Yu p. 188). The Korea example demonstrates how China is willing to commit resources and energy to foreign affairs when it has a demonstrable effect on China's program of modernization and economic development. Since few remote conflicts have the potential magnitude of effect that Korea has on China, China has been relatively apathetic towards global politics. Even though China is no longer as interested in global politics as it once was during the Cold War, Taiwan is one issue that the Chinese are firmly committed to at any cost. When it comes to the Taiwan issue, China is willing to play regional or global politics because it feels there is enough at stake. The PRC is adamant against any sort of diplomatic recognition of Taiwan as a separate nation. China has insisted that any nation who wants to establish normal diplomatic relations with China needs adhere to the one-China principle (Roy p. 200). Failure to do so has proven to be an impasse as China had illustrated on several occasions. For example, China used its UN Security Council veto to prevent the deployment of peacekeepers in Guatemala or an extension to peacekeeping forces in Haiti because both had diplomatic relations with Taiwan (Roy p. 201 and J. Wang p. 81). China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman explained, 'Guatemala cannot expect on the one hand to d...
