Chinese president’s meeting with Kim Jong-un shows he is still a key player in diplomacy to end the stand-off over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme, writes Ankit Panda
Chinese President Xi Jinping sought to underline a core message with his unexpected and secretive hosting of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on his first trip abroad since taking power after his father’s death in 2011. That message is that the long-standing friendship between Pyongyang and Beijing remains in place.
Both leaders emphasised tradition and history in statements released by their respective countries’ state media in the aftermath of their “unofficial” meeting. Kim went as far as to say that he felt an obligation to update Xi about developments in his country out of a sense of “moral responsibility”.
But there was a tacit acknowledgement, too, that all was not well.
Xi proffered Kim four proposals for the future of China-North Korea relations. The first two touched on the lack of existing high-level exchanges between the two countries. The implicit message was that Beijing felt like it had inadequate insight into Pyongyang’s decision-making.
At the very least, the summit has put an end to years of analysis pointing to the slow erosion of the historic China-North Korea relationship. This line of thinking accelerated in December 2013 when Kim decided to purge and execute his uncle, Jang Song-thaek, the man who, under Kim Jong-il, managed the economic relationship with China.
Curiously, neither side saw fit to mention the much-discussed China-North Korea Treaty of Friendship. Signed in 1961, it contains an article outlining mutual defence obligations – the only article of its kind that either country is party to.
