PoochyB’s Wordstock

But the drawbacks of cosseting an unruly ally have long been outweighed for China by the fear of what would happen if the regime running North Korea were to collapse.

cosset |ˈkäsət|
verb ( -seted , -seting ) [ trans. ]
care for and protect in an overindulgent way : all her life she’d been cosseted by her family.