Xi’s planned N.K. trip partly driven by desire to weaken Russia-N.K. ties, U.S. calls for Chinese cooperation: expert

He was referring to the shifting security landscape in which Seoul seeks to bolster its defense spending and secure stronger military capabilities through its push to build nuclear-powered submarines in cooperation with the U.S., and Tokyo accelerating its military buildup.

“Japan is doing all this stuff (to strengthen its military). Even, Korea, under a progressive president, is very aggressive on arms exports, and they are making deals like shipbuilding, nuclear submarines, and potentially enrichment and (spent nuclear fuel) reprocessing with the U.S.,” he said. “So (the Chinese) are seeing their environment changing.”

Cha also pointed out that the U.S. under Trump will not be the “patron ally that puts the cap on the bottle,” meaning that Trump would not care about the Asian allies’ military beef-up.

The Trump administration has been encouraging Seoul and Tokyo to strengthen their defense capabilities and reduce their security reliance on the U.S., as it has stressed a policy priority of “burden-sharing” with allies and partners.

Xi’s planned visit to North Korea would also be China’s “answer” to the deepening partnership between Russia and North Korea, which observers said China appears uncomfortable with.

“Trying to get Trump and the North Koreans together again may be a way to try to attenuate the DPRK-Russia relationship to try to pull them away a little bit,” the expert said. DPRK is short for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“That sounds like a very Chinese way to deal with it because it’s low-cost. You don’t have to put a lot of skin in the game. It doesn’t cost them materially, and if they are able to attenuate this tie that way without hurting their relationship with Russia, this might be the way to do it.”

During the podcast, Edgard Kagan, former U.S. ambassador to Malaysia, argued that Xi’s forthcoming trip to Pyongyang comes amid China’s concerns about North Korea-related issues, such as its nuclear program, noting that China might be “a little bugged” that Xi has to travel to Pyongyang.

In particular, he took note of North Korea’s disclosure of Kim’s recent visit to a newly launched nuclear material production facility just ahead of Xi’s trip to Pyongyang.

“The idea that they are rolling out a brand-new (nuclear facility) right before Xi Jinping comes, I am sure, is incredibly annoying to our Chinese friends,” he said.

“I think that they are probably worried a little bit about what North Korea might do, though I think that they all start going with a lot of leverage because I am sure Kim Jong-un is interested in what Xi is coming all this way to tell them.”

Kim previously visited China to attend the Asian superpower’s Victory Day event last September, and Xi’s trip next week is seen as his reciprocal trip to the North.

sshluck@yna.co.kr
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