Kim Jong Un meets Xi Jinping
China welcomes North Korea
CHINESE President Xi Jinping has told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that he hopes Pyongyang and Washington can fully implement the outcomes of last week’s nuclear summit.
State broadcaster CCTV said Xi told Kim that through the “concerted efforts of the relevant countries” negotiations regarding issues on the Korean Peninsula are back on track and the overall situation is moving in the direction of peace and stability.
The summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Singapore marked an “important step toward the political solution of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue”, Xi was quoted as saying in the meeting yesterday at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing.
Xi said China hopes North Korea and the US can “implement well the outcomes achieved at the summit”.
He said China would “as always play a constructive role” in that process.
In a joint statement at last week’s summit, Kim pledged to work toward the de-nuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for US security guarantees. Trump also agreed to suspend military exercises with South Korea in what was seen as a major win for North Korea and its chief allies, China and Russia.
Kim is on a two-day visit to Beijing, starting yesterday, and is expected to discuss with Chinese leaders his next steps after his nuclear summit with Trump last week.
Kim’s visit to Beijing, while expected, is one way for China to highlight its crucial role in US efforts to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme.
The US has long looked to China to use its influence with North Korea to bring it to negotiations, but the visit comes as ties between Beijing and Washington are being tested by a major trade dispute.
Xi “is exerting a lot of influence from behind the scenes”, said Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Glaser said it was predictable Xi would want to be briefed by Kim directly about the North Korean leader’s talks with Trump.
“I expect they will talk about the path going forward and where priorities should lie,” Glaser said.
Those priorities, from China’s perspective, would be to ensure that Beijing is included in any in peace treaty talks and for creating an environment on the Korean Peninsula that will make it unnecessary for US troops to remain.
Security was tight yesterday morning in the Pyongyang airport, where another flight was unexpectedly delayed, and later at the Beijing airport where paramilitary police prevented journalists from shooting photos.
A motorcade including sedans, minibuses, motorcycles and a stretch limo with a golden emblem similar to one Kim used previously was seen leaving the airport.
Kim was diplomatically isolated for years before making his first foreign trip as leader in March to meet with Xi in Beijing. This would be his third visit to China, North Korea’s main ally and key source of trade and economic assistance.
Following his summit with Trump, Kim was expected to meet with Chinese leaders to discuss progress in halting his country’s missile and nuclear weapons programmes in exchange for economic incentives.
The Singapore meeting resulted in a surprise announcement of a US suspension of military drills with its South Korean ally, a goal long pursued by Beijing and Pyongyang.
That move is seen as potentially weakening defences and diplomacy among America’s Asian allies, while bolstering China and Russia.
The state media treatment of Kim’s visit departed from past practice of not announcing his travels until Kim returned home.
Analysts said Beijing appeared to be trying to normalise such visits.
Cheng Xiaohe, an associate professor at Renmin University’s School of International Studies in Beijing, said the frequency of Kim’s visits was “unprecedented”. He noted that unlike on previous visits, China’s state broadcaster CCTV announced Kim’s visit before his departure.
The visit comes as a dispute over the large trade imbalance between China and the US has been escalating, straining ties between the world’s two largest economies and moving them closer to a potential trade war.
Trump recently ordered tariffs on $50 billion (about R690bn) in Chinese goods in retaliation for intellectual property theft.
The tariffs were quickly matched by China on US exports, a move that drew the president’s ire. Yesterday China woke to news that Trump directed the US trade representative to prepare new tariffs on $200bn in Chinese imports, a move swiftly criticised by Beijing.
A trade war with the US could make it less attractive for China to use its influence over North Korea to help the US achieve its objectives of de-nuclearisation.