Abstract
The political insanity of the dynastic leadership of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea), should normally have been a source of considerable embarrassment to Beijing, but the latter has, over the decades, successfully leveraged this for strategic and diplomatic gains. Strategically, thanks to Beijing and Pyongyang being supposedly close buddies-the international community is led to believe that none other than China can discipline an arrogant and wayward North Korea.
Diplomatically, Beijing uses Pyongyang as a force multiplier for its policy of threatening the sovereignty of those countries in the Pacific rim, which in league with the US,  proactively work on Beijing’s containment. Beijing’s greatest security challenges will come from; a  higher level  US dependency by China’s adversaries in the Pacific rim; the reunification of the two Koreas; the rising aspirations from Taiwan culminating in a declaration of independence; more strident anti-Beijing stance from Hong Kong challenging the “one nation two systems” concept adopted by Beijing.
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