Comparing NK to Canada and Mexico is pretty silly. Neither of them threaten China with nuclear weapons, China doesn't have the capability to project military po

Comparing NK to Canada and Mexico is pretty silly. Neither of them threaten China with nuclear weapons, China doesn't have the capability to project military power across the Pacific and challenge the US, and the US is very friendly with both of them. I'd also argue China is more dependent economically on the US than vice versa, though that's admittedly debatable. While China ostensibly supports NK because it's preferable to the US, the relationship isn't nearly as close as US with other NAFTA nations. This is supported by the original article. It isn't as much of a face loss as you're supposing.