President Xi Jinping’s first
visit to North Korea since 2019 is symbolic. It marks the 65th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between China and North Korea. Circumstances have changed in the past seven years, but the rhetoric reflects an enduring relationship.
In 2019, denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula was an abiding issue. This time, mention of it has been conspicuously absent. Meanwhile, amid increasing ties with Russia, Pyongyang has
signed a defence pact with Moscow and gone to its aid in its war with Ukraine. The American-Israeli war on Iran has further raised geopolitical tensions. And Japan is rearming.
Against such conflict, instability and uncertainty, Xi and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral ties. Trade between the two countries has surged to the
highest level in nine years. People-to-people exchanges disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic have resumed. China recently reopened transport links that were closed during the pandemic.
Strategically speaking, both sides feel they need each other, particularly with Japan aggressively rearming and the United States waging war. That is why Xi, in an op-ed published in a state-run North Korean newspaper, stressed the need to safeguard the post-World War II order and international justice. The two countries should strengthen exchanges at all levels and across party, government and military institutions, Xi said. He added that no matter how times change or how the international situation evolves, the friendship between China and North Korea remains invincible.
The Japanese invasion inflicted untold suffering on the Chinese and Koreans. Japan has never comprehensively reflected on its wartime past.
Xi’s
commemoration of the Chinese soldiers who died in the Korean war serves as a reminder that the China-North Korea relationship is unique. Keeping the Korean peninsula stable is critical to China’s development and national security.
