North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has arrived in Beijing to join XI Jinping and Vladimir Putin in a show of anti-Western solidarity for a massive military parade.
Chinese President Xi Jinping calls his Russian and North Korean counterparts together in Beijing for the first time, in a show of solidarity with countries that are avoided by the West about their role in the worst war in Europe in 80 years.
XI organized Vladimir Putin for conversations in the big hall of the people on Tuesday and then in his personal home and called him his “old friend”.
Kim’s armored train was seen in the Chinese capital and he seemed to be accompanied by his daughter, Kim Ju Ae.
Ju Ae, who regards South Korean intelligence service as the most likely successor of her father, makes her international debut after years of being seen alongside 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 well -known trips outside the borders of North Korea.
China is the country he visited the most – four times before – and he traveled to Russia twice.
His most adventurous journeys arrived seven years ago, when he met US President Donald Trump in Singapore in June 2018, followed by a new top in Hanoi at the beginning of 2019.
Kim has also traveled twice to the joint security area on the border of North and South Korea.
‘A United Front’
The presence of Kim, XI and the Russian Vladimir Putin together in a parade with rockets, tanks and fighter jets is powerful symbolic-a vision of an alternative to the post-war world order.
“Japan is the most important target of Beijing’s propaganda on Wednesday, in addition to the western bloc led by the US,” said James Char of the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, giving Kim’s presence the impression of “A United Front”.
It is also a messaging win for Kim in the interior – signaling North Koreans that the internationally isolated regime is respected by two world powers, China and Russia.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi goes to the top of XI together with other Asian leaders. Source: Getty / His Takekuma
Uncomfortable allies
Despite the apparent proximity, the relationship of Beijing and Pyongyang is uncomfortable.
“China and Noord -Korea are not friends, and they are not real allies,” said Christopher Green of the International Crisis Group (ICG).
“China regards the existence of North Korea as useful” as a point of diplomatic leverage, as well as a buffer state and a source of cheap work, he explained.
The support of the KIM regime is based on expectations, it will not cause too much regional instability – an expectation that has not always been observed.
Kim’s “consistent policy has been to find other ways for support and safety to minimize leverage that China has over Noord -Korea, and the freedom of action of Noord -Korea,” said the Justin Hastings of the University of Sydney.
Russia and North Korea signed a mutual defense agreement last year and are fighting North Korean soldiers in the Ukraine war.
Kim’s invitation to the Parade confirms that XI’s wish to keep Noord -Korea in the Baan van Beijing, even when Pyongyang deepens his ties with Moscow, Hastings said.
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