Hong Kong, June 16 (ANI): A flurry of diplomacy among China, Russia and North Korea continued as Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Pyongyang on June 8-9, underscoring shifting geopolitical dynamics among the three nations and signaling Beijing’s tacit acceptance of North Korea as a nuclear state.
The visit marked Xi’s first trip to North Korea in seven years. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un rolled out an elaborate welcome for his Chinese counterpart, reflecting the importance both sides attach to the relationship.
According to North Korean state media, ties between China and North Korea remain “as close as lips and teeth,” with Beijing remaining one of the few allies upon which the internationally isolated nation can rely.
Kim’s attendance at Xi’s military parade in September 2025 marked the first time he appeared alongside both Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin and his first participation in a multilateral event. The following month, Kim hosted Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev at a military parade featuring nuclear missiles in Pyongyang.
Analysts say these developments suggest that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is no longer a priority or prerequisite for China.
At the same time, North Korea has increasingly strengthened its ties with Russia in recent years. Kim’s decision to dispatch thousands of troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine has elevated Pyongyang’s strategic importance to Moscow and complicated China’s efforts to maintain influence over its unpredictable ally.
Xi’s visit appeared aimed at reminding Kim that China remains North Korea’s closest and most important benefactor.
As Xi noted during the visit, China and North Korea are “linked by mountains and rivers and share a common destiny.” He added that the two leaders had reached an important consensus to “grasp the trend of the times.”
For Kim, hosting the leader of the world’s second-largest economy was symbolically significant amid what he described as “upheaval in international affairs.”
Accompanying Xi were senior Chinese officials, including Cai Qi, Defense Minister Dong Jun, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.
Despite its growing relationship with Russia, North Korea remains heavily dependent on China, particularly as international sanctions continue to weigh on its economy because of its nuclear program.
Although no major agreements emerged from Xi’s visit, the trip provided valuable political optics for both leaders.
China and North Korea established diplomatic relations in 1949, and their ties were cemented during the Korean War, in which hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers are believed to have died. During the visit, Xi and Kim visited Friendship Tower, a memorial dedicated to Chinese soldiers who fought in the conflict.
The relationship has experienced periods of tension, particularly after China normalized relations with South Korea in 1992 and when Beijing supported United Nations sanctions following North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006.
However, relations improved significantly after Kim visited Beijing in March 2018, followed by a series of additional meetings with Xi over the next two years.
Analysts now suggest that China has largely accepted North Korea’s nuclear capability as a geopolitical reality.
Seong-Hyon Lee, a senior fellow at the George H.W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations, wrote in an analysis for The Jamestown Foundation that North Korea’s recent policy shifts indicate that its nuclear program has become permanently embedded in state doctrine.
According to Lee, “Tacit support from China has enabled Pyongyang’s shift. Over the past year, Beijing has recalibrated its policy toward North Korea, omitting reference to denuclearisation in joint statements and accepting proliferation as a new reality.”
He argued that by removing denuclearization from its diplomatic vocabulary, Beijing has created strategic space for North Korea to pursue a more hardline military posture.
Lee also noted that the deepening trilateral relationship among China, Russia and North Korea represents a significant restructuring of Eurasia’s political and security architecture.
China and North Korea also maintain a 65-year-old defense treaty, the only such formal alliance Beijing has with another country. The treaty obligates China to provide mutual assistance if North Korea comes under armed attack.
Despite concerns about North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, China’s overriding priority appears to be preserving stability on the Korean Peninsula and preventing regime collapse in Pyongyang.
Analysts say Beijing views North Korea as an essential buffer state that prevents a U.S.-aligned unified Korea from emerging on its border.
China also continues to seek a reduction in the U.S. military presence in South Korea, where nearly 30,000 American troops remain stationed.
Ultimately, both Xi and Kim share a deep mistrust of the United States and view their relationship through the lens of a broader ideological and strategic competition with Washington.
As Kim has described it, the bilateral relationship was “forged in blood” by comrades who shared “life and death in the protracted struggle for opposing imperialism and building socialism.”
According to Lee, Kim has successfully transformed North Korea from a pariah state using its nuclear program as a bargaining tool into a permanent nuclear power embedded within a revisionist bloc designed to be self-sustaining, resistant to sanctions and largely immune to diplomatic pressure from the West. (ANI)
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