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North Korea
ChinaDiplomacy
Shi Jiangtao
Shi Jiangtao

As I see it | From nukes to the Olympics, China’s mushrooming Pyongyang problem

  • The timing of two announcements from North Korea could not have been worse for its old Cold War ally, underlining a deepening dilemma for Beijing
  • If North Korean nuclear testing resumes during the Winter Games it will be a slap in the face for China and reveal its limited influence over an unruly neighbour

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North Korea has blamed “hostile forces” and the pandemic for its decision not to take part in the Beijing Winter Olympics. Photo: Reuters
Shi Jiangtao
The first few weeks of the year saw several important developments in China’s relations with North Korea, underlining Beijing’s deepening dilemma over its unruly communist neighbour.
Last week, amid food shortages and economic hardship, Pyongyang resumed railway imports from China for the first time since early 2020. And, at the United Nations, Beijing again helped to block a US-led effort to impose further sanctions on North Korea, despite Pyongyang’s repeated missile tests.
China’s generosity was met first with Pyongyang’s decision to skip the Beijing Winter Olympics, and then with a bombshell threat from leader Kim Jong-un that the North Korean regime may resume nuclear tests.
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The timing could not have been worse for China, North Korea’s top diplomatic backer and economic lifeline.

For years, Beijing’s much-touted ability to keep Pyongyang in check has been seen as its most important diplomatic leverage in its dealings with the United States. The deterioration in US-China ties has made that leverage particularly critical, with North Korea’s denuclearisation one of the few issues of shared common interest.

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The North Korean Olympics no-show announcement followed a series of diplomatic boycotts of the Games – which open in Beijing on February 4 – from the US, Britain, Australia and Canada over China’s alleged human rights atrocities in Xinjiang.

Pyongyang conveniently blamed “hostile forces” and the pandemic for its decision not to take part in the Games and, as usual, Beijing publicly defended its Cold War ally – although most Chinese social media commenters found the excuses unconvincing.

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