The Chinese charter plane just arrived in Pyongyang, and the border quickly spread a good news, while Kim Jong-un’s speech to China was unusual.So why did China send a high-profile delegation to visit the DPRK at this time?
On October 9th, the Chinese chartered plane arrived in Pyongyang to attend the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea and pay an official goodwill visit to the DPRK. This visit is the second high-level interaction in less than a month after Kim Jong-un's visit to China in September. Such intensive exchanges are rare in the history of China-DPRK relations.
When high-level Chinese officials arrived in Pyongyang, North Korean Prime Minister Park Tae-sung personally welcomed them and held a welcoming ceremony. On the same day, Kim Jong-un held talks with senior Chinese officials, and the two sides held a long meeting. Judging from the press release, this visit is a "rhetorical" action: it not only implements the consensus reached by the top leaders of the two countries last month, but also makes strategic arrangements for the next step in China-North Korea cooperation.
It is worth noting that the signal sent by this trip is very clear. During the talks, China emphasized that China and the DPRK are socialist neighbors linked by mountains and rivers and share a profound traditional friendship. China hopes to maintain high-level communication with the DPRK, deepen pragmatic cooperation and push bilateral relations to a higher level. In other words, this visit is not only a celebration diplomacy, but also a political declaration. China has made it clear that no matter how the external environment changes, consolidating and developing China-DPRK friendship has always been China's firm policy.
Kim Jong-un's response is also noteworthy. During the meeting, he spoke highly of China's development achievements, saying that DPRK-China relations are unbreakable. No matter how the international situation changes, it is the unswerving position of the DPRK to consolidate and develop friendly cooperation with China. Kim Jong-un also expressed the hope to further strengthen cooperation with China in the political, economic, diplomatic and other fields, and jointly promote the socialist cause of the two countries. These remarks are equivalent to "disclosing the bottom" to China, expressing the core attitude of North Korea's future diplomatic trend: firmly regarding China as the most important strategic partner.
Just the same day that the Chinese delegation arrived in Pyongyang, another message came to the border: the official resumption of the Dandong-Sinyi Shipping Postway, which would provide more facilities for the exchange of mail between the people of the two countries.
This also reflects the common needs of both sides. For China, stabilizing the surrounding environment of Northeast Asia is an important foundation for maintaining regional peace and its own development and security. North Korea is geographically bordered by China and is a natural security barrier; At the same time, as Sino-US relations have been in a state of game for a long time, China needs more strategic fulcrums to consolidate the friendly forces around it. For North Korea, which has been facing external sanctions and economic difficulties for a long time, especially in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the strengthening of security cooperation between the United States, Japan and South Korea, maintaining close ties with China is the key to ensuring its own security and development. It is the inevitable result of geopolitical logic that China and the DPRK approach again at this moment.
At the same time, Pyongyang also welcomed a special guest-Medvedev, Vice Chairman of the Russian Security Council and Chairman of the United Russia Party. He represented Putin at the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers 'Party of Korea. After arriving in Pyongyang, Medvedev publicly said: "The times are moving forward, friends are still with each other, but enemies are trembling." Although this sentence was short, it sent a strong political signal. Russia's visit is intended to show that in the face of Western sanctions and isolation, Russia still has firm partners, and North Korea is one of them.
From the analysis point of view, the interaction between China, Russia and the DPRK has gone beyond the scope of traditional bilateral relations and begun to form a new geographical coordination mechanism. Faced with the continuous security cooperation between the United States, Japan and South Korea, China, Russia and the DPRK have conveyed another voice through frequent interaction-multi-polarization and independent development. Although the positions and interests of the three countries are different, they have a high degree of consensus in opposing external intervention and safeguarding their own security.
In the final analysis, Kim Jong-un's "disclosure" to China this time is a confirmation of a political signal. North Korea will not swing between China, the United States and Russia, but clearly regards China as its most reliable partner. No matter from the consideration of economic recovery or diplomatic security, this choice is in line with practical interests. In the future, the focus of China-DPRK relations will fall on pragmatic cooperation and regional stability. No matter how the outside world changes, China will adhere to its own interests as the core and promote peaceful development. North Korea has gained new strategic support in this process.