How China should respond to US-NK talks

After visiting North Korea and the US in the past couple of days, South Korean presidential special envoy Chung Euiyong announced in Washington that US President Donald Trump has accepted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s invitation for a meeting, and that both sides will meet before May.

There hasn’t been a meeting between a serving US president and a North Korean top leader.

China’s primary interest on the Korean Peninsula is its denuclearization and peace. That is because China’s northeastern region is next to North Korea and under constant threat by the latter’s nuclear activities and unrest on the peninsula.

But the US is far away from the Korean Peninsula and has a lot of room to maneuver.

Now China’s influence on North Korea is based on China’s increasing national strength and geopolitical closeness. China is capable of impacting international sanctions and remains a stakeholder in the Korean Peninsula situation.

The trend of the peninsula situation is in the direction that China has been pushing and this shows China’s efforts worked. The “suspension for suspension” that China has advocated appeared, and the “dual-track” approach is taking shape. In the recent past, China has been part of international sanctions against North Korea while preventing the blocking of North Korea and other extreme situations that may cause military conflicts, and retained room for a favorable turn between the US and North Korea.

It is unnecessary for China, a major power, to worry about North Korea “turning to the US,” as there will be no one around China that will completely side with the US.

Since the very beginning of the peninsula nuclear crisis, China has been actively pushing for a direct dialogue between North Korea and the US, and China should continue to support this approach.

With the development of modern technology and the shift in international relations, North Korea’s significance as China’s geopolitical buffer has been greatly reduced. Sound China-North Korea ties are more important to North Korea than to China.

China should support the US-North Korea contact and welcome the Kim-Trump meeting. In the meantime, China should actively respond to the sharp change in the situation and improve relations with North Korea to further facilitate the change.

China will, on one hand, uphold the authority of the UN Security Council, while on the other hand help protect the rights of North Korea when Pyongyang begins denuclearization talks with Washington. China will advocate the international security mechanism and help prevent North Korea from being deceived or squeezed by the US once it begins to denuclearize.