“After Kim Jong Il assumed power he began a program of ’sex training’ for spies, using agents from China and the former Soviet Union as instructors,” Terence Lee, a risk management consultant, tells. Such training may have included legendary ancient Chinese bedroom methods that, if applied correctly, might cause the object of seduction to suffer heart failure.

China has plenty of reasons to be twitchy over a more active Russia. Its energy interests run counter to Russia's in Central Asia. China has long opposed the arguments that Russia is advancing to defend its actions in Georgia. Russian power in the Far East could hamper China's attempts to dominate, or at least lead, the region. And the two share a long history of conflict and competition.