China’s President Xi Jinping lands in North Korea for a rare visit amid shifting regional alliances.
China has been North Korea’s main trading partner by far for many decades and a key source of diplomatic and economic support for the country hit by multiple international sanctions.
FILE PHOTO: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this undated photo released on June 21, 2019 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERS
By Lilian Chemutai
China’s president Xi Jinping touched down in Pyongyang in North Korea today, on Monday, for a rare, two-day state visit at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. This is his first trip abroad this year, after doing back to back summits in Beijing and, um, it’s also his first time in the country in seven years.
Before he arrived, he promised unwavering friendship and tighter collaboration. Xi said, “no matter how the times change or how the international situation evolves , the traditional friendship between China and North Korea is always invincible” , or something along those lines.
For decades, China has been North Korea’s main trading partner by a wide margin, and also a major channel of diplomatic and economic help for the country, which has been hit by several rounds of international sanctions.
The visit lines up with the 65th anniversary of the China-North Korea friendship treaty. So, basically it’s not just a random stop.
Xi went after hosting US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin separately in Beijing, and, meanwhile North Korea’s nuclear talks with Washington are still stuck, deadlocked, not really moving.
The White House said last month that Xi and Trump “confirmed their shared goal to denuclearize North Korea during their summit in Beijing,” and that was presented as pretty clear.
But on the eve of Xi’s arrival, Kim Jong-Un’s powerful sister reportedly said North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is “the line of no retreat”. That’s the phrasing, no real flexibility in it.
Minseon Ku, a diplomacy professor at DePaul university, told AFP that “Beijing has probably accepted North Korea as a nuclear state”, but he added that Xi “will probably tell Kim that China wants stability more than anything.”
“China has always prioritized stability and it’s currently having to manage its relations and differences with the us”, Ku said.
North Korea has described itself as an “irreversible” nuclear state, repeatedly, since the 2019 Kim Trump summit fell apart over denuclearization scope and sanctions relief.
Kim’s position has also been buoyed by the war in Ukraine, where Moscow has offered crucial backing after North Korea sent troops to fight alongside Russian soldiers.
Some analysts suggested the trip might be Xi’s way of countering Russia’s expanding influence over North Korea, but Ku at DePaul emphasized that “overall Moscow is not a major power like China.”
North Korea, meanwhile, is the only country with an official, binding military alliance with China.
“America is currently engaged in offensive warfare potentially harmful to China’s key interests, such as energy supplies,” Vladimir Tikhonov, a Korean studies professor at the University of Oslo, told AFP.
“It appears Xi is trying to consolidate the alliance with North Korea partly for that reason, he said.”
Beijing also claims Taiwan as part of its territory, and analysts said North Korea could work as a counterweight to US partners in the region, including South Korea and Japan.
“As China’s international standing rises, Beijing is likely seeking to draw Pyongyang more actively into its diplomatic orbit,” said Lim Eul-Chul, a North Korea expert at Kyungnam university.
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