Even Western pundits grudgingly admitted the summit between President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was a success. Both sides, according to Bloomberg, “appear to have walked away with what they wanted”. Given China’s rising pre-eminence while avoiding any damaging war, it’s no surprise that Xi had the upper hand in his recent meetings with US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But with Kim, the stakes for Beijing were just as high, in light of Tokyo’s remilitarisation, Manila’s strengthened military cooperation with Washington, the South Korean-US alliance and Taiwan’s creep towards secessionism. They all point to a revitalised US-led containment strategy against China. Ostensibly the junior partner with Xi, Kim knew he was indispensable.
While all those strongmen dominate contemporary geopolitics because of their countries’ military or economic heft, Kim has turned a weaker hand to his advantage. During Xi’s visit, Kim called ties with China “the most important top priority”, reaffirming Beijing as his principal backer. Even so, he now has options with Moscow.
In return, Xi completely ignored nuclear disarmament during his visit. Some commentators have interpreted that as China tacitly endorsing North Korea’s status as a nuclear power. But it was more an unspoken gesture than a substantial policy change, and not really different from the West’s decades-long acceptance of Israel as a nuclear power, despite its so-called strategic ambiguity over possessing such weapons.
There is a big difference in outcome. A nuclear-armed Israel has enabled it to seek dominance and destabilise the Middle East. A nuclear-armed North Korea has been a stabilising factor in the Asia-Pacific, contrary to Western propaganda.
In the past, Beijing might have played along with the Western demand for Pyongyang’s denuclearisation as a bargaining chip. Now, though, even the West has no real argument against North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons.
