Xi Jinping is hoped to persuade Kim Jong Un to abandon nuclear ambition

For the first time after the inauguration last weekend, President Xi Jinping of China made an inspection tour to Jilin bordering with North Korea, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and Changchun. Visiting a house of an ethnic Korean, he followed Korean customs of taking off shoes and sitting cross-legged on the floor. Hearing that some are still using old-fashioned conventional-type toilets, he said that “In the ear of Shaokang when the entire nation enjoys comfortable and abundant livelihood, not a single ethnic group should be left out,” ordering to improve the situation. He is said to have been requested to visit the region from the leader of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture at National People`s Congress in March but some say the implication of the inspection visit means more than that. It seems that Beijing is trying to restore its traditionally-faithful alliance with Pyongyang which had been alienated since February 2013 when the North conducted its nuclear test. It also implies that China is pushing forward with its revitalization plan of northeast area, the border area with North Korea and Russia.

Frustrated with Pyongyang, Beijing would not easily neglect the relations with North Korea given its global strategy. The visit of Xi, however, could give the impression that if the North persists to go nuclear without giving up its plan, China would offer his hand again, which is worrisome. With the final agreement of Iran’s nuclear deal on July 14th, the world is eyeing on North Korea, the only remaining nuclear threat and its sole alliance China.

Unlike North Korea, Iran has yet conducted nuclear tests and Western countries had continuously imposed strong sanctions on the nation, which enabled to conclude the nuclear deal with Iran. UN’s restriction against North Korea, however, has hardly been effective due to China who has supported the North. “The one thing I will say, and I would say to North Koreans, is that this agreement demonstrates that one can come out of isolation, one can come out from under sanctions, one can become part of the world community or have the potential to become part of the world community and end isolation, and do so in a peaceful way. It perhaps might give North Korea second thoughts about the very dangerous path that it is currently pursuing," said U.S. Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman at a briefing, which is an unlikely scenario unless China changes its attitude toward the North.

China has recently joined the force of international community to pressure North Korea, which is not sufficient. “As Northeast China is bordered with North Korea, China is strongly demanding Pyongyang to give up its nuclear plan,” Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi of China said when he met with the then-Minister Kim Jang-su of National Defense two years ago. President Xi is strongly advised to exercise his influence to Kim Jong Un by saying if he abandons nuclear ambition, Pyongyang could enjoy the national development that Beijing does now. Without Pyongyang giving up its nuclear ambition, common prosperity in the Northeast region is highly unlikely to be achieved.