Chinese President Xi Jinping is in Pyongyang on Thursday for talks with Kim Jong Un, part of a two-day state visit to North Korea that’s the first by a Chinese leader in 14 years.
A commentary by China’s official Xinhua news agency said Beijing could play a “unique and constructive role” in breaking the cycle of mistrust between North Korea and the United States so they can work out a roadmap to achieve denuclearization.
At an event at the Atlantic Council in Washington on Wednesday, Stephen Biegun, the State Department’s special representative for North Korea, credited China for playing a productive role in the talks and insisted more progress is being made than may be apparent to the casual observer.
“We have forged a pretty good partnership with China in approaching the issues on the Korean Peninsula. I’m not Pollyannaish about this,” he said. “China agrees with us 100% … The Chinese government wants to create the conditions for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.”
As for the failed summit in Hanoi at the end of February, Biegun said both sides got a better idea of the way forward.
“It is no secret that since Hanoi, the U.S.-North Korean diplomacy has been in something of a holding pattern,” he said. “In the past week, there’s been an uptick in activity, with President Trump receiving a letter from Chairman Kim, with a meeting of senior officials from North and South Korea at Panmunjom village.”
