BEIJING: USPresident Donald Trump once said there was "love" between him andNorth Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but Xi Jinping is intruding into therelationship to remind them that China is an indispensable chaperone in theirnuclear dance. With his first trip to Pyongyang as president, Xi took anotherbig step to patching up his tattered relations with Kim, whose nuclear testsprompted Beijing to join UN sanctions against its longtime ally.
Xi's two-dayvisit, which ended Friday, will also serve the Chinese leader in hiscomplicated relationship with Trump, as they prepare to hold talks on theirtrade war at the G20 summit in Japan next week. Months after Trump declaredthat he and Kim had fallen "in love", their nuclear talks faltered astheir second summit in Vietnam in February ended without an agreement.
Trump has alsorepeatedly called Xi his "friend", but their own negotiations to endthe US-China tariffs war broke down last month. With Trump's relationship withKim on the rocks, Xi has found an opening. After the North Korean leadertravelled to China four times in the past year, Xi has finally reciprocated,declaring in North Korea's official newspaper that the friendship between theirnations was "irreplaceable".
Kim gave Xi alavish welcome, inviting him to the "Mass Games", an epic music anddance show in a packed stadium that featured the song "I love youChina" and a giant portrait of Xi. "(Xi) wants to use his visit toPyongyang to demonstrate to President Trump that China's role on the KoreanPeninsula is indispensable," said Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asiaat the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
"And if Xican persuade Kim to resume talks with the US, he hopes that Trump will ease uppressure on trade," Glaser said. Glaser noted that Trump himself made thelink between a trade deal and China helping with North Korea. But Trump hasalso seen Xi as a potentially negative influence on Kim, calling him a"world-class poker player" last year, as he noted a change ofattitude by the North Korean leader after meeting the Chinese president.
Leverage
In talks onThursday, Xi told Kim that he was "willing to strengthen coordination andcooperation" with North Korea and other parties, and play a "positiveand constructive role" in achieving denuclearization of the KoreanPeninsula, according to Chinese state media. Ahn Chan-il, a North Koreandefector and researcher in Seoul, said Xi is using North Korea as leverage inhis own confrontation with the United States. "Xi and North Korea... aresaying the Beijing-Pyongyang alliance forged in blood will not be affected byTrump, regardless of any economic incentives to effect a change," he said.
China, whichfought alongside the North in the Korean War, remains Pyongyang's maindiplomatic and economic backer despite tensions over the nuclear issue. LuChao, a North Korean expert at China's Liaoning academy of social sciences,said Beijing "will certainly play a major role in mediating the return ofthe DPRK and the United States to the negotiating table." But Lu said itwas wrong to think that China would use North Korea as a bargaining chip-anotion that the Chinese foreign ministry has also rejected.
No Midas Touch
Shi Yinhong,professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, said tiesbetween China and North Korea have not been "fully repaired" justyet, as China still enforces UN sanctions. "With the improvement ofSino-DPRK relations, China can restore some influence on the DPRK, but the mainthing is that Kim Jong Un makes his own decisions," Shi said.
In a sign thatthe neighbours are not always in sync, North Korean media did not carrycomments by Kim reported by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, which quoted him assaying that he was "willing to be patient" in the talks with the US,but wanted "the parties concerned" to meet him halfway.
The state-runChina Daily sought to play down Xi's influence on North Korea. "The worldmay hope that the Chinese leader has the magic touch that can turn a stone togold," the newspaper said in an editorial. "But it is unrealistic toexpect that Xi can solve all the peninsula issues with a two-day visit-even ifBeijing has always been the most reliable and considerate partner toPyongyang."- AFP