ohObviously, it would have been easier to kill two birds with one stone: Vladimir Putin could have flown directly to Pyongyang from Beijing, where he was in mid-May, less than a two-hour flight from the Chinese capital. The Russian president ultimately decided to wait a month and will visit North Korea on Tuesday, June 18 and Wednesday, June 19, after which he will fly to Vietnam.
China certainly feels comfortable with this separation of activities to avoid the impression of collusion among the three Western enemies. Indeed, Beijing has mixed feelings about the rapprochement between Russia and North Korea that has been brought about by its invasion of Ukraine.
A double-edged sword
The Russian president and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un joined forces out of mutual interest. The former needed supplies of North Korean artillery shells to continue the war. The latter could have provided them to ease his sense of isolation and obtained food aid that would help stabilize his country’s economic situation after difficult years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, they could have acquired specific know-how in the fields of ballistics and satellite technology. Another benefit for the North Korean dictator would be the diversification of his allies. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is committed to autonomy, as reflected in its doctrine of self-reliance, or “Juche,” and has long been concerned about its excessive dependence on China.
This was a double-edged sword for Beijing. It relieved the pressure of providing international protection to a troubled North Korea and the burden of delivering enough supplies and food to ensure its survival. China believes it is in its interest to maintain the buffer zone that North Korea provides, since the large U.S. military bases in South Korea are only 400 kilometers from Chinese territory. But for China, it comes at the cost of having to act as the international protector of North Korea, despite its swagger, nuclear tests and missile launches. By following only its own dictates and not implementing the kind of reforms that enabled China to grow, or at least at the pace suggested by Beijing, the North Korean regime has become a never-ending irritant to its giant neighbor.
The accelerating rate of launches in the 2010s convinced many involved in Chinese strategic policymaking that North Korea, the only country with which China maintains a mutual defense pact, was becoming a burden. In 2021, the two countries renewed the treaty, which was adopted after the Korean War (1950-1953). Nevertheless, an editorial in the state-run daily newspaper in 2017 stated: Global Times Beijing has been careful to make it clear that it would only support Pyongyang if it were under attack and not the aggressor.
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