Lips, teeth, and the space between
China and North Korea have lots to talk about.
On Saturday, Zhao Leji, chairman of the legislature (NPCSC) and China’s third-ranked official, met with North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un.
ICMYI: On Thursday, Zhao talked up cooperation with his North Korean counterpart, Choe Ryong Hae.
Zhao evoked a shared past of hardship and resilience (MoFA):
- “The friendship between China and North Korea was created and cultivated by the older generation of revolutionaries.”
- “It has withstood various tests of the changing international situation.”
Kim called Sino-North Korean relations “deeply rooted and unbreakable” and said that:
- “Consolidating and developing the traditional friendly cooperative relations…is the unswerving policy of the North Korean party and government.”
Despite outwardly cordial ties, relations between Beijing and Pyongyang are complicated:
- North Korea’s munitions-for-food deal with Russia is drawing unwelcome Western attention to foreign sponsors of Russian war industries, creating risks for China.
- There’s also speculation that Russian assistance to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is part of the bargain, which threatens to destabilize the region (AP).
Did someone say regional destabilization?
- In January, Kim renounced efforts at Korean reunification and described South Korea as Pyongyang’s “principal enemy.”
Get smart: The burgeoning Moscow-Pyongyang partnership makes China nervous.
- Beijing has often traded diplomatically on its ability to influence North Korea, but Russian in-roads and Kim’s belligerent rhetoric risk elevating tensions in China's backyard.