The motivation behind China’s uncharacteristic flurry of diplomat relations this past week is finally coming to light.

Beijing: China fears North Korea now has enough plutonium to build a nuclear missile, said diplomats quoted today by the Asian Wall Street Journal.

This realisation was the apparent catalyst for Beijing’s renewed attempts to defuse the crisis, with Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo sent to Pyongyang on Saturday.

Mr Dai is now in Washington to brief top United States policymakers about the outcome of his rare meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. China is North Korea’s closest ally.

The newspaper said Chinese intelligence services concluded in recent weeks that North Korea was producing weapons-grade plutonium in sufficient quantities, and has all the necessary components to make nuclear-tipped missiles.

Quoting diplomats in Beijing and a European official who had seen internal Chinese reports on the findings, the newspaper said the reprocessing was estimated to be enough to make at least one nuclear device.

China may very well be the strong arm needed to deal with Pyongyang, and there’s nothing like pure, unadulterated fear to help pack a wallop into a strong arm’s punch.