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Teddy Ng

President Xi Jinping will send his right-hand man to North Korea, China’s state broadcaster said on Tuesday, as nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington have hit a snag.
State-run CCTV reported that Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People’s Congress and the third-ranking official in the ruling Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee, will go to North Korea on Saturday.
He will attend the 70th anniversary event to mark North Korea’s founding on Sunday. Li will be travelling as a special representative of Xi, indicating that the president is not likely to attend the event himself as an earlier report suggested.
Li will be the highest level Chinese official to visit North Korea since Xi came to power in 2012. The last Politburo Standing Committee member to go to Pyongyang was Liu Yunshan, in 2015.


US President Donald Trump said in late August that he did not believe Beijing was “helping with the process of denuclearisation as they once were” – a remark China’s foreign ministry described as contrary to the facts.
Li’s visit comes as progress has stalled between Washington and Pyongyang following the landmark summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore in June.
Also late last month, Trump cancelled a planned trip to the North by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
That was followed by US Defence Secretary James Mattis saying America did not plan to suspend more joint military drills with South Korean forces amid reports Pyongyang was rejecting US demands to give up its nuclear warheads.
China slams ‘absurd logic’ from US after Trump accuses Beijing of blocking North Korea denuclearisation
Relations between China and North Korea had deteriorated over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests that prompted Beijing to back United Nations sanctions against the regime.
But ties have thawed this year, with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visiting China three times since March. Observers suggested the first two visits were an effort by Kim to boost his bargaining power with Trump ahead of their summit, and to push for economic cooperation with China.

A Pyongyang official told South Korean media in July that the North had invited Xi for the 70th anniversary event, but Beijing did not confirm the reports. Analysts said sending Li was the “most appropriate” arrangement for China.
“With Trump stepping up his rhetoric against China over trade and North Korea, Xi going to Pyongyang would probably reinforce his thinking that Beijing has not been enthusiastic enough about denuclearisation,” said Zhang Baohui, an international relations professor at Lingnan University in Hong Kong.
“Sending Li as a top official representative will help as a goodwill gesture to North Korea, but it avoids reinforcing Trump’s thinking.”
Boo Seung-chan, a research fellow at the Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies in Seoul, said Xi appeared to have made a strategic decision to protect China’s national interests by trying to improve its relations with the US.
Ju Kyu Chang, developer of North Korea missiles and nuclear weapons, dies at 89
“If Xi went to Pyongyang after Trump’s warning, it could worsen the US tariffs situation for China and this ‘assertive China’ view held by other nations,” Boo said, adding that more trade actions would also make it difficult for China to pursue its goals.
“However, this does not mean relations between China and North Korea will worsen. Xi has carefully chosen his right-hand man, who he trusts to go in his place, which will show Pyongyang that it’s still important to Beijing,” Boo said.
﻿Watch: North Korean defectors speak out against atrocities


“China’s strategy has not changed and so its relations and policies towards the North are also unlikely to change.”
The anniversary on September 9 is one of the hermit kingdom’s most important annual holidays, along with the birthdays of late leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il.
Lu Chao, a Korean affairs expert at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, said sending Li to the anniversary celebrations was a sign China wanted to keep the momentum going in its relations with North Korea, even though Xi did not appear to be attending the event.
“It means that China still holds its relations between the state and party of North Korea in high regard, and it’s a sign of China’s support for North Korea’s strategy,” he said.
Moon, Trump speak before envoy heads to North Korea
Lu added that Pyongyang was likely to seek Beijing’s help in getting international sanctions against North Korea lifted, but that China would be pushing for its isolated communist neighbour to take more steps towards denuclearisation.
Michael Kovrig, senior adviser for Northeast Asia at the International Crisis Group, said Li would have the political savvy and foreign policy experience to gather insights about Pyongyang’s intended approach to negotiations with the US and South Korea.
He added that sending Li to the event showed that North Korea’s standing had improved in China’s eyes.
Additional reporting by Lee Jeong-ho


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Xi Jinping

Xi Jinping to send right-hand man Li Zhanshu to North Korea

Li Zhanshu will attend the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding on Sunday. Photo: AFP

This picture from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) taken on May 8, 2018 and released on May 9 shows China's President Xi Jinping (R) walking with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) in the Chinese city of Dalian. Chinese President Xi Jinping met Kim Jong Un in China for the second time in six weeks on May 7 and 8 and later spoke with Donald Trump, in an intensifying whirlwind of diplomacy as the North Korean and US leaders prepare for a historic summit. / AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS / KCNA VIA KNS / South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS THIS PICTURE WAS MADE AVAILABLE BY A THIRD PARTY. AFP CAN NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, LOCATION, DATE AND CONTENT OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PHOTO IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY AFP. /

China slams ‘absurd logic’ from US after Trump accuses Beijing of blocking North Korea denuclearisation

US President Donald Trump, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Wednesday. He says Chinese pressure on North Korea has stymied progress on denuclearisation. Photo: TNS

epa06979988 Trucks and other equipment are on standby at a US military base in Dongducheon, South Korea, 29 August 2018. US Secretary of Defense James Mattis signaled on 28 August that Washington may resume key joint military drills with South Korea if the North remains recalcitrant despite the 12 June Singapore summit agreement. EPA-EFE/YONHAP SOUTH KOREA OUT

epa06970164 (FILE) - US President Donald J. Trump (R) and North Korean Chairmain Kim Jong-un (L) depart after a signing ceremony during their historic DPRK-US summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island, Singapore, 12 June 2018 (reissued 25 August 2018). According to media reports on 24 August 2018, US President Donald J. Trump announced the cancellation of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's planned trip to North Korea. Making the announcement via Twitter, President Trump cited North Korea's lack of progress in denuclearization efforts as the reason for the cancellation. EPA-EFE/KEVIN LIM / THE STRAITS TIMES / EDITORIAL USE ONLY

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Top official will attend 70th anniversary event, China’s state broadcaster says


Top official will attend 70th anniversary event, China’s state broadcaster says.


Xi Jinping to send right-hand man Li Zhanshu to North Korea

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Top official will attend 70th anniversary event, China’s state broadcaster says

Top official will attend 70th anniversary event, China’s state broadcaster says