When Lee Myung-bak, South Korea's president, reacted to the March 26 sinking of a South Korean warship with the loss of 46 lives by calling for an independent inquiry, the initial reaction was that he was playing for time. He probably was. To rush to the conclusion that North Korea had torpedoed the ship would have put him under pressure to retaliate, risking a dangerous military escalation with his unpredictable, nuclear-armed Stalinist neighbour. Now an international inquiry has confirmed that Pyongyang was responsible, the world has the option to take more measured, co-ordinated action. But to mount a credible international response, China – Pyongyang's most important ally – needs to be on board. The ball is now in Beijing's court.
针对3月26日一艘韩国军舰沉没、46名水兵丧生，韩国总统李明博(Lee Myung-bak)呼吁展开独立调查。对此，外界的最初反应是他在拖时间。他很可能确实是在拖时间。若匆忙得出结论称朝鲜用鱼雷击沉了那艘军舰，李明博将面临国内要求报复的巨大压力，可能导致韩国与不可预测、拥有核武器和斯大林主义政权的朝鲜出现危险的军事对抗升级。现在，一项国际调查已经确认，平壤方面要对沉船事件负责，世界拥有这样一个选择，即采取更加慎重和协调的行动。但是，要做出可信的国际回应，就需要朝鲜最重要盟友manbetx3.0 的加入。现在该是北京方面有所作为的时候了。