Phil Stewart
ESPARGOS, Cape Verde (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir PutinA mutual defense pact with North Korea could create friction with China, long the country’s main ally, a senior U.S. military official said Sunday.
“Now somebody else is trying to step in, so we may see a little bit more friction between China and Russia,” Air Force Gen. C. Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters during an overseas visit.
“So it will be interesting to see how it plays out in these three countries and how this unfolds.”
Analysts said the deal signed on Wednesday could weaken China’s influence over its two neighbours and that increased instability could be bad for China’s global economic and strategic ambitions.
Putin said on Thursday that Russia could supply weapons to North Korea, suggesting it was a countermeasure to Western arms supplies to Ukraine.
Brown acknowledged U.S. concerns about the deal.
But he also tempered those remarks by noting the deal’s clear limitations and expressing doubts that Moscow would give North Korea “everything” it wants.
U.S. officials have said they believe North Korea is eager to acquire fighter jets, surface-to-air missiles, armored vehicles, ballistic missile production equipment and materials and other advanced technology from Russia.
“My impression of the agreement is that it’s a broad agreement that’s not overly binding and it shows that both countries want to work together but don’t want their hands to be tied,” Brown said.
The treaty signed by Putin and Kim Jong Un on Wednesday commits each side to providing immediate military assistance to the other if either comes under armed attack.
Putin said he hopes cooperation with North Korea will serve as a deterrent to the West, but that there is no need to use North Korean soldiers in the war against Ukraine.
The United States and Ukraine claim that North Korea has already provided Russia with large quantities of artillery shells and ballistic missiles, a claim that Moscow and Pyongyang deny.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Diane Craft)
