Opinion | Why China must get North Korea to lower its demands for sanctions relief in nuclear talks
- Mathieu Duchatel writes that ‘dramatic shifts’ in Xi Jinping’s North Korea policy emerged during the failed Trump-Kim talks in Hanoi
China is, of course, not responsible for the failure of the Hanoi summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to produce an agreement between Washington and Pyongyang.
But the two dramatic shifts of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s North Korea policy in 2016 and 2018 have had a significant impact on the North’s formulation of its initial bargaining offer, as it was finally made public in Hanoi.
In 2016, China finally stopped preventing the expansion of the sanctions from a narrow focus on entities and individuals directly responsible for proliferation, to a set of damaging measures targeting commercial activities. This clearly was a turning point, one that shaped an environment conducive to the resumption of diplomacy.
But there was another turning point in March 2018 when Kim’s train arrived in Beijing for a surprise reconciliation visit.
Since then, China has empowered Kim with four summit meetings, and given full support for the idea of reciprocal concessions between the US and North Korea. This means that China is partly to blame for the major reason that led to Hanoi’s failure: North Korea’s excessive and unrealistic offer.
The Hanoi summit marks the first time North Korea formulated precise demands with regards to sanctions relief.