Kim could speak in Xi’s voice during summit
Two meetings in as many months before big summits on the Korean Peninsula has a familiar ring to it and has got us thinking on the course of events that are to take place. It’s clear who’s setting the agenda for the US-Koreas summit that could change the destiny of the region and the world. China wants to be part in the picture, frame by frame, for posterity, a likely Nobel portrait. The Chinese leadership wants to be seen as giving its blessings to its ideological sibling and all-weather partner. So little brother from Pyongyang comes calling, or is summoned to a city in China’s north. Beijing, from the Korean War in the 1950s, has been a bulwark against the world for the regime in Pyongyang that is desperately seeking to find its place in international politics for economic reasons. Sanctions have crippled the North Korean economy which needs to find its feet. More importantly, it cannot afford to leave the nuclear umbrella and economical lifeline provided by Beijing in its quest to break new ground with the United States.
Japan already feels left out of the new thaw between the Koreas, but China is too big a player to offend for Kim Jong-un, the man who is making peace overtures, or responding positively to proclamations from the estranged South. That Kim may be doing Beijing’s bidding should not come as a surprise. How far Kim will play the dragon’s game during his meeting with the United States and Seoul is the question on most minds. The North Korean leader’s secret meeting on Tuesday with Chinese President Xi Jingping in Dalian opens a door of possibilities, and more uncertainties as he heads to a summit with President Donald Trump and South Korea President Moon Jae-in later this month on early June. What he cannot hide is the Chinese baggage he will take with him which could lead to trust deficit between the sides — an impediment to a real deal with Trump and the South. Kim may not renege on the larger peace drive but could stop short of any commitment to denuclearisation. He is certain to speak in Xi’s voice when he meets Trump. That’s no way to start a new relationship.