Shannon Brandao
From the article: "SCMP [excerpt]: #China and #NorthKorea pledged to deepen cooperation as senior officials met for rare talks last week amid broader efforts by Beijing to shore up relations with its neighbours to counter external risks.
According to China’s foreign ministry, foreign vice-minister Sun Weidong met his North Korean counterpart Pak Myong-ho in Beijing on Friday, with the parties agreeing to strengthen 'strategic communication and coordination'.
'The two sides agreed to take the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and [North Korea] next year as an opportunity to deepen the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries,' the ministry said in a brief statement.
North Korean state news agency KCNA said the two sides discussed boosting 'strategic cooperation between the two countries in the future'.
Pak’s trip to Beijing was one of only a few by high-level North Korean officials to China since Pyongyang shut its borders in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. It also marked a post-pandemic resumption of engagement between North Korea and its neighbours.
Citing KCNA, Seoul-based news agency Yonhap reported that the last visit to China by a high-ranking North Korean official was in August 2019 by Kim Su-gil, then director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People’s Army. Kim held talks with his Chinese counterpart Miao Hua during his trip.
The official Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily reported on Sunday that during a stop in southern China on the way back from Vietnam last week, President #XiJinping highlighted the need for cooperation with neighbours and to 'better coordinate the domestic and international situations'.
Noting the 'increasingly complex, severe and uncertain' external environment, the report said Xi’s trips to Hanoi and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region were important to creating positive conditions for China’s development.
'Today’s China is not only China’s China but also Asia’s China and the world’s China. The greater the perspective, vision and ambition, the greater the space and potential for development,' it said.
Chong Ja Ian, professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said the seniority of the officials at the Beijing meeting and the discussion of strategic coordination suggested that China and North Korea were looking to demonstrate cooperation.
'Given that the meeting comes after an uptick in North Korean #nuclear weapons and missile developments, Kim Jong-un’s visit to #Russia, and joint Russian and Chinese bomber patrols, [the meeting] indicates that China can continue to put pressure on the US and US allies in Asia,' Chong said."
#news #geopolitics