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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has arrived in Beijing to join Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin in a show of anti-Western solidarity before a massive military parade.
China’s President Xi Jinping is convening his Russian and North Korean counterparts in Beijing for the first time, in a show of solidarity with countries shunned by the West over their role in Europe’s worst war in 80 years.
Xi hosted Vladimir Putin for talks at the Great Hall of the People on Tuesday and then at his personal residence, calling him his “old friend”.
Kim’s armoured train was spotted arriving in the Chinese capital, and he appeared to be accompanied by his daughter, Kim Ju Ae.
Ju Ae, whom South Korean intelligence consider her father’s most likely successor, is making her international debut after years of being seen next to Kim at major domestic events.
Rare outing for Kim Jong Un
Since he came to power in 2011, Kim has only made a handful of known trips outside North Korea’s borders.
China is the country he has visited most — four times previously — and he has travelled to Russia twice.
His most adventurous travel came seven years ago, when he met US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June 2018, followed by another summit in Hanoi in early 2019.
Kim has also travelled twice to the Joint Security Area at the border of North and South Korea.
‘A united front’
The presence of Kim, Xi and Russia’s Vladimir Putin together at a parade bristling with missiles, tanks and fighter jets is powerfully symbolic — a vision of an alternative to the post-war US-led world order.
“Japan is the main target of Beijing’s propaganda on Wednesday, alongside the US-led Western bloc,” said James Char from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, adding Kim’s presence gave the impression of “a united front”.
It is also a messaging win for Kim domestically — signalling to North Koreans that the internationally isolated regime is respected by two world powers, China and Russia.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is attending Xi’s summit along with other Asian leaders. Source: Getty / Suo Takekuma
Uneasy allies
Despite the apparent closeness, Beijing and Pyongyang’s relationship is an uneasy one.
“China and North Korea are not friends, and nor are they true allies,” the International Crisis Group (ICG)’s Christopher Green said.
“China sees North Korea’s existence as helpful” as a point of diplomatic leverage, as well as a buffer state and a source of cheap labour, he explained.
Its support of the Kim regime is predicated on the expectation it will not cause too much regional instability — an expectation that has not always been lived up to.
Kim’s “consistent policy has been to find other avenues for support and security so as to minimise the leverage that China has over North Korea, and maximise North Korea’s freedom of action”, said the University of Sydney’s Justin Hastings.
Russia and North Korea last year signed a mutual defence agreement, and North Korean soldiers are fighting in the Ukraine war.
Kim’s invitation to the parade confirms Xi’s desire to keep North Korea in Beijing’s orbit, even as Pyongyang deepens its ties with Moscow, said Hastings.
