BEIJING: China is unlikely to take strong action in response to North Korea's claimed test of a hydrogen bomb, according to experts who say Beijing prefers the devil knows to the uncertainty that could follow a confrontation. And whether Pyongyang would even listen is highly questionable, they say. Governments around the world have long pushed the Asian giant to moderate its wayward neighbour's bad behaviour, arguing that Beijing's support for Pyong ang gives it particular influence over the hermit kingdom. But that is ever less true, experts say, Relations forged in the blood of the Korean War with the countries once called"as close as teeth and lips taken a licking since Kim Jong-un took control of North Korea following the 2011 death of his father. China's influence on North Korea is becoming weaker and weaker. The main issue is that the North's leadership do not listen. They are very stubborn," said Zhu Feng, an expert on international relations Pyongyang, he added, may believe it can exploit" its relationship with its main dip omatic protector while Beijingis distracted by tensions with other neighbours and the US in the South China Sea. Beijing regularly calls for calm on the Korean peninsula has become increasingly frustrated with its neighbour's antics, a feeling undoubtedly exacerbated by its fourth nuclear test, Unlike his father Kim Jong-il, pyong yang's current leader has not visited Bei ing since coming to power. Last month,