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.
針對3月26日一艘韓國軍艦沉沒、46名水兵喪生，韓國總統李明博(Lee Myung-bak)呼吁展開獨立調查。對此，外界的最初反應是他在拖時間。他很可能確實是在拖時間。若匆忙得出結論稱朝鮮用魚雷擊沉了那艘軍艦，李明博將面臨國內要求報復的巨大壓力，可能導致韓國與不可預測、擁有核武器和斯大林主義政權的朝鮮出現危險的軍事對抗升級。現在，一項國際調查已經確認，平壤方面要對沉船事件負責，世界擁有這樣一個選擇，即采取更加慎重和協調的行動。但是，要做出可信的國際回應，就需要朝鮮最重要盟友中國的加入。現在該是北京方面有所作為的時候了。