A plethora of sanctions means North Korea must take advantage of clandestine activity for things like nuclear weapons proliferation. A new report reveals that North Korea was recently the recipient of 600 tons of illegally obtained petroleum. A Hong Kong tanker reportedly completed the handover in the East China Sea. This is said to be one of at least 30 such documented cases over the last two months, and every one of these incidents flout UN Resolution 2375, which (on paper) imposes a major petroleum embargo on Kim Jong-un. How much of said under-the-radar oil trade is directly linked to China is not entirely known, but it’s fair to assume the “People’s Republic” is complicit in most, if not all, of it. After all, going rogue and providing needed materials in order to fulfill the many mutual interests it has with North Korea is China’s tour de force.

Take, for example, “The Decision of General Office of the Communist Party of China on Conducting Communication and Coordination Work between Our Country and The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for Further In-depth Solution of Its Nuclear Issue.” This confidential report, crafted by the Chinese government, was intercepted by the good folks at The Washington Free Beacon. The report proposes more ways to obfuscate sanctions and further ensure North Korea goes relatively unblemished. According to WFB:

> China’s Communist Party adopted a secret plan in September to bolster the North Korean government with increased aid and military support, including new missiles, if Pyongyang halts further nuclear tests, according to an internal party document. The document, labeled “top secret” and dated Sept. 15 — 12 days after North Korea’s latest underground nuclear blast — outlines China’s plan for dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue. It states China will allow North Korea to keep its current arsenal of nuclear weapons, contrary to Beijing’s public stance that it seeks a denuclearized Korean peninsula. Chinese leaders also agreed to offer new assurances that the North Korean government will not be allowed to collapse, and that Beijing plans to apply sanctions “symbolically” to avoid punishing the regime of leader Kim Jong Un under a recent U.N. resolution requiring a halt to oil and gas shipments into North Korea.

China doesn’t desire to denuclearize or even calm North Korea. What it’s doing is pretending to broker peace while it passively dismisses the UN as a paper tiger. The proof is in the flow of oil that has China’s fingerprints all over it and a secret document that admits to criminal undermining. As Donald Tump put it, “[I’m] very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen!” Addressing North Korea is an incredibly difficult task that’s made worse by China’s having its client’s back — perhaps at any cost. If Trump can somehow manage to kill two maniacal birds with one stone, that will be an accomplishment truly worth praising.