As Pravda Press continues the full-court press on the Spicer kerfuffle, President Trump’s bombing of Syria and sending the Navy towards North Korea is paying dividends. From the Global Times, an organ of China’s Communist Party:

Washington’s latest threat to Pyongyang is more credible given its just launched missile attack at an air base in Syria. The Korean Peninsula has never been so close to a military clash since the North conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.

If Pyongyang conducts its sixth nuclear test in the near future, the possibility of US military action against it will be higher than ever. Not only Washington brimming with confidence and arrogance following the missile attacks on Syria, but Trump is also willing to be regarded as a man who honors his promises.

[snip]

Presumably Beijing will react strongly to Pyongyang’s new nuclear actions. China will not remain indifferent to Pyongyang’s aggravating violation of the UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution.

More and more Chinese support the view that the government should enhance sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear activities. If the North makes another provocative move this month, the Chinese society will be willing to see the UNSC adopt severe restrictive measures that have never been seen before, such as restricting oil imports to the North. Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program is intended for securing the regime, however, it is reaching a tipping point. Pyongyang hopes its gamble will work, but all signs point to the opposite direction.

China is now making public its warning to North Korea, its client state, to back off.

Pyongyang can continue its tough stance, however, for its own security, it should at least halt provocative nuclear and missile activities.

Pyongyang should avoid making mistakes at this time.

What a dramatic change from the open contempt China had shown President Obama, contempt that had only emboldened Kim Jong-un.