Credits to the owner
China maintains a “no limits partnership” with Russia and serves as a critical supporter of North Korea. However, as these two nations, isolated by the U.S. and the West, grow closer, Beijing seems to be keeping a strategic distance.
Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin stirred global geopolitics by signing a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement, including a mutual defense pact. This move brings the two nuclear-armed states closer than they have been since the Cold War.
Putin’s rare visit to North Korea, his first in 24 years, comes as he seeks greater support from Pyongyang for his war in Ukraine. U.S. officials have reported that in exchange for providing Russia with much-needed munitions, North Korea could receive Russian assistance in advancing its nuclear, missile, and satellite programs, including weapons capable of reaching the continental United States.
The elevation in relations, described by Kim as an “alliance,” sends a message to China, North Korea’s primary benefactor, that Pyongyang now has another powerful ally in Moscow.
“Kim Jong Un has a number of things to gain from this at a strategic level,” said John Delury, professor of Chinese studies at Yonsei University in Seoul. “This gets China’s attention and makes Xi Jinping pay a little bit more heed perhaps to what’s going on across his border.”
The mutual defense treaty, reviving a Cold War-era agreement for mutual military assistance, comes as China accuses the U.S. of similar bloc-building. Experts suggest the U.S. may respond by strengthening security ties with South Korea and Japan, increasing Beijing’s sense of U.S. military encroachment in the Asia-Pacific.
In a joint statement on Sunday, the U.S., South Korea, and Japan condemned the deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea but remained open to talks with the North.
U.S. and other officials are closely monitoring China’s reaction to Russia’s overtures toward North Korea. Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted that Russia’s actions might cause friction between China and Russia.
China has been largely silent on the growing ties between Putin and Kim, both of whom rely heavily on Beijing for economic and diplomatic support. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson declined to comment on the Russia-North Korea pact, calling it a matter between the two countries.
China, Russia, and North Korea share a common hostility toward the U.S.-led international order, emphasized during Putin’s state visit to Beijing last month. However, China is less isolated globally and is cautious about jeopardizing its relations with Europe, South Korea, Japan, and others by becoming part of any trilateral “authoritarian axis.”
Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, explained, “China has been very careful and clear about framing the relationships among the three countries as three bilateral relations rather than one trilateral relation. China wishes to keep its options open rather than being bogged down by Russia and North Korea.”
President Xi Jinping has positioned China as a global player, walking a tightrope on the Ukraine war by not condemning Russia’s invasion, putting him at odds with the West. Unlike North Korea, U.S. officials say there is no evidence that China has directly offered weapons to Putin, though several Chinese companies have been sanctioned for trading in dual-use components that could have military applications.
Both North Korea and Russia deny transferring arms for use in Ukraine, which would violate United Nations Security Council resolutions that Russia has previously supported.