North Korean leader Kim Jong-un declared the North’s unstinting “friendship, unity and cooperation” with Beijing during his third visit to China this year, in a show of loyalty to his main ally following a landmark summit with US President Donald Trump.
The two-day visit that ended yesterday was designed to reassure Beijing that Pyongyang would not neglect its interests as Trump and the young autocrat move into uncharted diplomatic terrain.
The performance is part of adelicate balancing act for Kim, who analysts say is seeking to play US and Chinese interests off each other, while maintaining good relations with Beijing, his economic patron and diplomatic protector.
China and the US both hope to see the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons, but Beijing is concerned Washington and Pyongyang might move closer at its expense, a possibility that China sees as threatening to its economic and security interests in the region.
While China was not present at the June 12 summit in Singapore, it lent Kim a plane to travel to the city-state, a clear sign that it remains an influential force in the diplomatic shuffle.
The Cold War-era allies, which fought side-by-side against US-led UN forces and South Korea in the 1950 to 1953 Korean War, have sought to repair ties strained by Pyongyang’s nuclear tests and Beijing’s support of UN sanctions.
Kim chose Beijing for his first official foreign trip in March and met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) again last month in the northeastern port city of Dalian.
Over the course of this two-day visit, Kim and Xi exchanged vows of friendship and promises of economic cooperation, in a carefully choreographed display of amity that ignored the recent history of chilly relations between the neighbors.
Kim, who was on Tuesday greeted by a military honor guard and cheering children at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, said he valued the “recently strengthened strategic cooperation” between the two countries, the Korean Central News Agency (KNCA) said.
“He expressed the determination and will to further develop the closer relations of friendship, unity and cooperation between the two parties and the two peoples of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] and China,” KCNA said.
Kim also invoked the “prospect for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” following his meeting with Trump.
At a meeting over tea yesterday at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, Xi said that “the two sides have jointly created a new history of China-DPRK high-level exchanges,” Xinhua news agency said.
“The momentum for dialogue and easing of situation on the Korean Peninsula has been effectively strengthened,” Xi said.
“With joint efforts of China, the DPRK and related parties, the Korean Peninsula and the Northeast Asia will surely embrace the bright prospects of peace, stability, development and prosperity,” Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.
Following the meeting, Kim toured an agricultural technology park and rail traffic control center in Beijing, Xinhua said, possibly hinting at some of the North’s goals for future economic cooperation with China.
The two nations’ official media did not say whether Kim and Xi discussed the prospect of easing UN sanctions that have crippled North Korea’s economy, although analysts said it could have been part of the agenda.
Kim and Xi were likely seeking “common ground” following the Singapore summit, said Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Seoul-based Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
For China, North Korea can serve as “an important card” as Beijing faces a potential trade war with the US, Shin said. “For the North, it can also show to the world, especially the US, that Beijing has Pyongyang’s back if the North’s ties with the US sour in the future.”
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