North Korea looms as next big test for China-US relations

Observers expect a more traditional diplomatic approach from Washington, but cooperation with Beijing could be key

Joe Biden has yet to articulate his administration’s policy towards Pyongyang, which has been building bridges with China

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches a ballistic missile launch at an unknown location in 2019. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:00am, 14 Feb 2021Updated: 9:54pm, 14 Feb 2021

China and the US might play the North Korea card against each other, but Pyongyang might also use the same tactic to advance its nuclear weapons programme, observers say.

US President Joe Biden did not mention North Korea in his first foreign policy address on February 4, but on Tuesday State Department spokesman Ned Price said the US remained “committed to denuclearisation of North Korea”. He added that Washington was working on a policy review and was “in close consultation and coordination” with its allies and partners.

While Biden called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “a thug” during his campaign – a barb he also used to describe Chinese leader Xi Jinping – observers said the new US president was likely to take a more traditional and pragmatic diplomatic approach than his predecessor.

Donald Trump’s unconventional style led to three unprecedented meetings with Kim, who ignored the former president’s demand for complete denuclearisation and last month announced a list of development plans for hi-tech nuclear weapons systems to deal with what he called intensifying American hostility.

Unlike Trump, Biden and his diplomatic aides understand North Korea is unlikely to give up its nuclear weapons in the near future, according to Zhao Tong, a senior fellow with the Carnegie-Tsinghua Centre for Global Policy in Beijing.

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