Chinese President Xi to visit North Korea after meetings with Trump and Putin

(Patria) - Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to arrive in North Korea on Thursday after hosting two consecutive summits last month with US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and to meet with Kim Jong Un, AFP reported.

China, Washington's main geopolitical rival, has been North Korea's main trading partner for decades and a key source of diplomatic and economic support for the country of about 26 million people.

Xi's visit comes at a time when North Korean nuclear negotiations with Washington remain deadlocked. The White House said last month that Xi and Trump "confirmed their shared goal of denuclearizing North Korea" during a summit in Beijing.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Friday that the two leaders would "exchange views on bilateral relations and issues of common interest" and "make greater contributions to regional and even world peace."

Leader Kim Jong Un's sister said just a day before Xi's arrival that North Korea's nuclear weapons program was a "point of no return."

China has "always prioritized stability and currently must manage its relations and differences with the US," said Minseon Ku, a professor of diplomacy at DePaul University.

"Beijing has likely accepted North Korea as a nuclear state," but Xi will "likely tell Kim that China wants stability above all else."

Seong-Hyon Lee, a visiting scholar at Harvard University's Asia Center, said China is turning to "ensuring regime durability" rather than forcing North Korea to denuclearize.

"China's broader regional strategy benefits from a stable, heavily armed and aligned buffer state that absorbs US and allied military capacity," he told AFP.

"Elevated status"

North Korea has repeatedly declared itself an "irreversible" nuclear state since the 2019 Kim-Trump summit collapsed over the scope of denuclearization and sanctions relief.

Trump met with Kim three times during his first term, but his comment in October that he was "100 percent" open to another meeting went unanswered.

Kim has also been emboldened by the war in Ukraine, securing key support from Moscow after sending thousands of troops to fight alongside Russian forces.

Some analysts say the summit could be Xi's way of countering Russia's growing influence over North Korea, but Professor Ku thinks "overall, Moscow is not a great power like China."

"The power dynamics between Moscow and Pyongyang are more equal than between Beijing and Pyongyang. Moscow needs Kim for its war in Ukraine as much as Kim needs technology and food exchanges from Russia," she told AFP.

Xi last met with Kim in September, when he invited the North Korean leader and Putin as guests of honor at a military parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of victory over imperial Japan in World War II.

Analysts said that trip showcased Kim's elevated status as he appeared alongside Xi and Putin at a spectacular military parade - a display of his growing standing on the global stage.

Counterbalance to Taiwan

Xi has hosted a series of world leaders, as increasingly unpredictable United States under Trump has prompted many to strengthen alliances with Beijing.

Conflicts in the Middle East have also occupied more of Washington's attention, and Trump has made little progress on North Korea, especially on the nuclear front, despite summits with Kim.

North Korea is also the only country with an official, binding military alliance with China.

"America is currently engaged in offensive warfare that potentially harms key Chinese interests, such as energy supply," Vladimir Tikhonov, a professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, told AFP.

"Xi seems to be trying to consolidate the alliance" with North Korea for that reason, he added.

Beijing views self-governing Taiwan as part of China, and North Korea could serve as a useful counterbalance to US partners in the region, including South Korea and Japan, analysts said.

Cold relations between China and Japan have worsened since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year suggested that Tokyo could militarily intervene in any Chinese attempt to take over Taiwan.

"As China's international prestige grows, Beijing likely seeks to more actively draw Pyongyang into its diplomatic orbit," says Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at Kyungnam University.