North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was believed to have arrived in Beijing yesterday on a secrecy-shrouded visit that experts say aims to secure economic support in exchange for a commitment to return to denuclearization talks.
For a third day, Chinese officials refused to confirm Kim was in the country, though he has been spotted by journalists several times since arriving aboard his armored train on Monday.
Yesterday afternoon, a fleet of black, North Korean-flagged limousines escorted by police was seen entering the Diaoyutai State Guest House in western Beijing where foreign leaders often stay on visits to the capital.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Security was high around the sprawling compound of lakes and villas, with more police and soldiers posted along its walls and at access points.
South Korean media reported Kim was to be feted by Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) with a welcoming banquet at the Great Hall of the People last night before the two men and their delegations sit for summit talks today.
China is widely seen as the country with the most clout with Kim’s hardline communist government. Kim, who is known to shun air travel, has visited China five times since succeeding his father as ruler in 1994, most recently in 2006.
Japanese and South Korean media, which have been closely tracking Kim, reported that a train carrying Kim arrived in the booming port of Tianjin about one hour east of Beijing earlier yesterday.
Today’s discussions are expected to center on further financial help from China, already impoverished North Korea’s biggest source of food and fuel aid and main bulwark against tougher international sanctions.
Chinese investment, especially in North Korean natural resources, has been growing, although widespread economic chaos — most recently a botched currency reform effort — limits such opportunities.
Fearing the regime’s implosion and mass unrest on its border, China is expected to accede to new aid requests, said Cai Jian, deputy director of the Center for Korean Studies at Shanghai’s Fudan University. The sides may also start implementing a series of economic agreements signed during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s (溫家寶) trip to Pyongyang last year, Cai said.
While China won’t link the issues explicitly, it will be expecting Kim to offer some new willingness to rejoin long-stalled six-nation talks sponsored by China under which Pyongyang agreed to dismantle its nuclear programs in return for aid.
“They want to break the deadlock so that North Korea could get back to the framework of the six-party talks,” Cai said.
An announcement during Kim’s visit could bring a new round of six-nation talks by June, following bilateral contacts between North Korea and the US, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
“Hu Jintao will promise an active cooperation in Chinese economic aid and investment to North Korea, while Kim will respond by announcing his country’s return to the six-party talks and his commitment to denuclearization,” Yang said.
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