China recognizing North Korea as a nuclear state
By Kang Seung-woo
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s omitted mentioning North Korea’s nuclear development in a meeting with a visiting North Korean delegation, Wednesday, and this has ignited speculation here that Beijing is recognizing Pyongyang as a nuclear state.
Analysts said that China appears to be smoothing over the once-soured relations with the North in an attempt to use it as leverage against the United States, which is moving to contain China’s growing clout in the region.
Ri Su-yong, a vice chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee who led the delegation, reaffirmed the North’s uncompromising stance on nuclear development during his three-day trip to Beijing.
However, Xi held a meeting with him, giving positive comments on the ties between the allies.
Instead, the Chinese President said China’s stance on the issue of the Korean Peninsula is consistent and clear ― seen as an indirect reference to the North’s denuclearization.
This is quite different from Xi’s earlier comments about North Korea’s nuclear program.
Xi had called for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in his previous meetings with North Korean officials.
In March, Xi also reaffirmed China’s commitment to the denuclearization of the peninsula in summits with President Park Geun-hye and U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in the United States.
Xi also said at the foreign ministers’ meeting of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) that China “will never allow war or chaos to occur on the peninsula.”
This was the first time in about three years for Xi to meet a senior North Korean official since he met Choe Ryong-hae, who visited in May 2013 as the North Korean leader’s special envoy.
In the talks three months after the North’s third nuclear test, Xi stressed the denuclearization of the peninsula three times, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
According to China’s Xinhua news agency, Xi set a positive tone in the meeting with Ri, stressing the need to “reinforce and develop” bilateral relations.
The North’s Korean Central News Agency also reported that the meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere.
Friendly to NK
The reports indicate that China is now changing its stance on the North’s nuclear development program.
“China may be shifting from pressing North Korea to engaging in dialogue with the country after figuring out pressure-only measures cannot resolve the nuclear issue,” said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior fellow at the Sejong Institute.
Analysts believe that China’s efforts to mend ties with the North are largely associated with Washington’s move to boost its regional security interests after Obama’s visits to Vietnam and Japan last week.
On the occasion of his visit to Vietnam, the U.S. fully lifted a ban on weapons sales as both countries are warily eyeing China’s military build-up in the South China Sea, in which six countries ― China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan ― have wrangled over territory.
The move drew criticism from China that the U.S. President was exacerbating the strategic antagonism between Washington and Beijing.
“With increasing U.S. moves to contain China in the region, Beijing attempted to recover its relations with the North to use as leverage against Washington,” said Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong Global University.
The North has served as a buffer zone and strategic asset against the U.S. “pivot to Asia” policy.
“In addition, China also plans to take advantage of the Xi-Ri meeting to take the initiative on North Korea’s nuclear issue in next week’s annual U.S.-China strategic talks in Beijing,” he said.
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