Mid-level Chinese official to visit North Korea in tepid restoration of exchanges between allies
Jul 25, 2023
With North Korea firing missiles and facing a potential food crisis, China’s ruling Communist Party is sending a mid-level official to visit in hopes of restoring exchanges between the allies
BEIJING (AP) — With North Korea
firing missiles
and facing a potential food crisis, China’s ruling Communist Party is sending a mid-level official to visit in hopes of restoring exchanges between the allies.Li Hongzhong will join official North Korean commemorations of the signing of an armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War 70 years ago. North Korea, which launched the ultimately futile attempt to conquer its southern rival, considers the agreement a recognition of victory.
The conflict brought in forces from the newly created People’s Republic of China, aided by the Russian air force, while South Korea, the U.S. and troops from various countries under the direction of the United Nations battled to repulse the invasion. The border between the Koreas remains among the most tense in the world.
Li is a member of the party’s high-level Politburo and a deputy chairperson of the ceremonial parliament, giving him national office, but not the level of status that would convey a full-bore expression of Chinese backing for North Korea at an ambiguous time in relations.
Some experts say North Korea might ramp up its weapons tests around the anniversary of the armistice on Thursday, July 27.
China was invited to send a “high-level delegation” to attend commemorative activities in North Korea, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing Tuesday.
“We believe the visit will be conducive to promoting the sound and stable development of (bilateral) relations, contributing to regional peace and stability, and creating conditions for a political settlement of the (Korean) peninsula issue,” Mao said.
China has joined United Nations sanctions against North Korea over its missile and nuclear programs but remains its most important economic and political ally. Little is known about discreet contacts between the two, but Beijing has long been committed to preventing the collapse of North Korea's three-generation-old Kim regime.
Dangerous and uncertain factors resulting from a collapse could include a wave of refugees crossing into China, a scramble for control of North Korea's nuclear weapons and the sudden presence of South Korean and American troops along China's border.
North Korea test-fired its first intercontinental ballistic missile in three months on Wednesday, days after it threatened “shocking” consequences to protest what it called provocative United States reconnaissance activity near its territory.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has visited China in past years, while Chinese leader Xi Jinping
traveled to the North in 2019
in what was seen as partly an effort to use their ties to leverage concessions from the U.S. and its allies on their security arrangements in the region.Such visits came to a halt as an increasingly isolated and impoverished North Korea closed its borders to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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