North Korea still looking to China for economic and political security, analysts say
It won’t be possible to move forward on denuclearisation without Beijing giving Pyongyang the incentives to give up its weapons, according to experts
China is still an indispensable player in the Korean peninsula issue following Friday’s historic summit, because Beijing can provide economic and political assurance to Pyongyang, analysts said.
After North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in agreed to a goal of “complete denuclearisation” to achieve a nuclear-free peninsula, and to establish permanent peace, hopes are high for a planned summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in May or June, followed by a trilateral summit.
But international relations experts say it will be impossible to move forward on denuclearisation and peace without China’s involvement, as Beijing will give Pyongyang the economic incentives and political security it needs to give up its nuclear weapons.
In the Panmunjom Declaration agreed on Friday, North Korea made the vague promise of fulfilling its “responsibilities and roles in the future”. But Washington has specifically demanded a “complete, verifiable and irreversible” dismantlement of the North’s nuclear programme.
“There is a big gap between the North Korean and US definitions of denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula,” said Zhang Tuosheng, director of the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies at the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies.