"For several decades, China has been North Korea's closest ally, largest trade partner and primary source of aid.
However, Kurt Campbell, the former head of the State department in Asia, said there are signs that a relationship once described by Chairman Mao to be "as close as lips and teeth" is wearing thin.
"There is a subtle shift in Chinese foreign policy. Over the short to medium term, that has the potential to affect the calculus in north east Asia," Mr Campbell said at a forum at John Hopkins university.
"You have seen it at the United Nations (Security Council). We have seen it in our private discussions and you see it in statements in Beijing," he added.
snip
Mr Deng argued that China's relationship with North Korea had become a liability. "Why should China maintain relations with a regime and a country that will face failure sooner or later?" he asked. "Once North Korea has nuclear weapons, it cannot be ruled out that the capricious Kim regime will engage in nuclear blackmail against China," he added.
Meanwhile, the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a key bellwether of relations between the North and the South, was closed on Friday for a national holiday.
The North has blocked South Korean workers from entering the site, which lies six miles inside its border, for two days, although staff are permitted to leave the site.
The South Korean Unification minister, Ryoo Kihl-jae, said the South was willing to evacuate the Kaesong if it was felt that its citizens were in danger. At present, however, he said the situation at Kaesong "is not very dangerous" and the government was "not considering" a shutdown.
South Korea has also dispatched warships, in addition to the two US destroyers in the area, to monitor the North for a missile launch. Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, reported that two more missiles had been transported by North Korea to its east coast using its network of underground tunnels."
China 'shifts position' on North Korea - Telegraph
Let's hope that China clamps down on the young dangerous Kim before he starts something that would be a disaster, and possibly WWIII.