He landed in Pyongyang this Monday Xi JinpingChinese president, for strengthen ties with its traditional ally in a turbulent geopolitical context. “No matter how much times change or how the international situation evolves, the friendship between China y North Korea will always be invincible,” Xi instructs in a letter published on the front page of the North Korean newspaper Rodong Simbun. It has been a turbulent friendship, on the verge of breaking down on several occasions, but the probable negotiations between Kim Jong-un y Donald Trumpleaders of North Korea and the United States, advise tightening the ranks.
It is Xi’s first trip abroad in eight months and his first trip to North Korea in seven years. He has enjoyed the predictable pageantry. Kim and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, welcomed Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, on a red carpet at the foot of the runway. Television images show a squad of motorcycles flanking the official vehicle in streets packed with North Koreans with flags wishing “Comrade Xi” a long life. Giant portraits of the two leaders had been raised in the square of Kim Il Sung, grandfather and founder of the saga, where the 21 regulatory salutes and anthems played by the military orchestras were heard before the Honor Guard was reviewed. Xi and Kim had not seen each other since the latter attended the military parade that commemorated the anniversary of the end of the war against fascism in Beijing. That photograph in Xi’s honorary box supported by Kim and Vladimir PutinRussian president, worried the West. Another anniversary now marks, the 65th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between China and North Korea. It was signed a decade after they fought shoulder to shoulder in the korean war and Pyongyang is the only one linked to Beijing with an official Defense agreement.
Trump and Xi spoke weeks ago about the Korean issue at their three-day summit in Beijing. The subsequent US statement revealed that both shared “the goal of denuclearization of the peninsula” while the Chinese only mentioned that they had “exchanged their views” on the issue. Denuclearization is the core. The North Korean excesses irritate China, so understandably concerned about nuclear tests on the other side of the border as annoying because they justify the harassing American presence in their backyard. China dragged Pyongyang into international negotiations for its denuclearization decades ago and more recently supported Kim and Trump’s dialogue. But North Korea recently included the country’s nuclear character in the Constitution with the irrevocability clause and has insisted that it will not debate the matter further. Last week, Kim visited a new uranium enrichment plant, congratulated engineers for having doubled atomic capacity in five years and ordered them to continue with the exponential progression. North Korea wants the world to recognize its nuclear status as a prior step to lifting of sanctions that strangle their economy.
Cooperation with Russia
Trump’s willingness to meet again with Kim after that failed process in 2019 suggests that he has assumed with North Korea what he finds unacceptable with Iran. China, which prioritizes stability in their neighborhood on other issues, although the situation points to the tacit acceptance of a lesser evil. Experts maintain that Xi would want to mediate or influence the negotiations between Trump and Kim while all the scenes of closeness with Moscow and Beijing suit him.
Pyongyang now enjoys the attention of the two powers that for decades have taken turns preventing its collapse. His cooperation with Russia has reached its highest level after the signing of a military aid agreement in which North Korea has sent troops and ammunition to Ukraine in exchange for nuclear and missile technology. China, which concentrates more than 90% of its international trade, is its economic float.
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