With only three days left before the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers 'Party of Korea, China officially announced that the head of government led a delegation to visit North Korea. This also broke expectations of the outside world for this celebration. After all, before this, Russian President Vladimir Putin It has been confirmed that he will not attend, so foreign media are more curious about China's attendance lineup.
After the Chinese official announcement, will China, Russia and the DPRK hold a tripartite meeting? How will the United States and South Korea respond? These are hotly discussed topics in major media.
Let's first look at the Russian arrangement. The Putin government sent Medvedev. Sources said that this arrangement was actually finalized as early as May this year. This seems reasonable. According to past diplomatic practice, Putin visited Pyongyang in June last year and signed the sensational "Russia-North Korea Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty" with North Korean leaders. This year, it should be the North Korean leader's turn to pay a return visit to Moscow.
More notably, although Medvedev has the title of former president, he is no longer in the Russian core leadership, even rarely appearing at important domestic meetings. Therefore, sending him to attend the 80th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Korean Labour Party, can both avoid the excessive interpretation of the external on the close interaction between the Russian and the DPRK, and do not neglect the invitation of the DPRK, can be said to be both low and pragmatic. Currently, the Russian DPRK has a close cooperation in the fields of energy, food, military and other fields, while the North Korean army out of Kursk, also provided a lot of ammunition support to Russia, of course, Russia has also resource feedback to the DPRK, this deep cooperation does not need to beined through high-level face
Looking at China's arrangement, it is a completely different scene. At the invitation of the DPRK, a high-level Chinese delegation visited the DPRK, not only attending the celebrations of the DPRK, but also paying a three-day official visit. This specification can be said to be very special. You know, last year, Putin visited North Korea for only 24 hours and then hurried home. The schedule of China's three-day visit to the DPRK is very rich, covering not only important links such as talks and visits, but also cultural exchange activities of China. More importantly, at the beginning of September, the North Korean leader personally attended China's 1993 military parade. Within a month, China sent a high-standard delegation to pay a return visit, which fully reflected the weight of China-DPRK relations.
Of course, China's making such an arrangement is by no means just a mere diplomatic courtesy. You know, the possibility of fundamental improvement in Sino-US relations in the short term is almost zero. At the same time, the three countries of the United States, Japan and South Korea continue to strengthen military cooperation, and the situation on the peninsula can be said to be unprecedentedly tense. China's announcement of a visit by a head of government to North Korea at this time is not only a response to the strengthening of strategic communication when the leaders of China and North Korea met in Beijing in September, but also a contribution to the stability of the situation on the peninsula with practical actions. For North Korea, China's presence is not only a show of face support, but also gives North Korea more confidence to break its diplomatic isolation and win more recognition in the international community. For China, this visit not only further consolidated the friendship between China and North Korea, but also won greater initiative for itself. After all, a stable situation on the peninsula has only advantages and no disadvantages to China. China welcomes the peaceful coexistence of North and South Korea.
At the same time, an interesting scene occurred. China just released a visit to the DPRK news, the foreign minister of South Korea called the foreign minister of China about the fire. The two sides talked for 40 minutes, the South Korean side in the conversation used unprecedented expressions to describe the determination to develop relations with China, and also specifically mentioned a major thing to happen at the end of this month, that is the APEC summit, this summit is hosted by South Korea, the South Korean side at this time called, clearly want to use this to promote high-level exchanges between China and South Korea.
The urgent statements also revealed the anxiety and uncertainty of the Chinese-Russian government over the close interaction between the three sides. South Korea, along with the United States Japan to strengthen sanctions against North Korea, while not daring to easily ignore the relationship with China, after all, China's international influence has been obvious, in the Korean Peninsula affairs also played a significant role. In this context, the Chinese side in the conversation also responded actively to the South, Wang Yi foreign minister pointed out that China-Korea relations should avoid external interference. The external interference is said to be the United States, and the United States has always tried to block China's allies to hinder China's development and rise.
From a more macro perspective, this North Korean celebration has gone far beyond the scope of the celebration, Putin’s absence is a choice made by Russia based on its own interests and strategic requirements, China’s special arrangements are focused on the advance layout of future development, and South Korea’s call also reveals the sensitivity of the current situation on the peninsula, and it is still unknown in what direction the situation will develop in the future.