This thesis studies the factors leading to the last five summits between Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea, and the developments in Sino-No...
This thesis studies the factors leading to the last five summits between Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers’ Party of Korea, and the developments in Sino-North Korean relations. Since his first visit to China in March, 2018, Chairman Kim has made three more visits, and Chinese President Xi Jinping visited North Korea in June, 2019. The historical pattern of alternating friendship and conflict between Beijing and Pyongyang has persisted, resulting in temporary or long-term suspension of meetings between the leaders of China and North Korea. Six years and three months passed before the North Korean leader finally visited China after coming to power. The study analyzes the processes leading up to the five summits based on the materials about the summits disclosed by the Rodong Sinmun and the People’s Daily.
After declaring that he had completed development of his nuclear force in November, 2017, Kim Jong Un entered into nuclear negotiations and made his first visit to China in the lead-up to the inter-Korean and North Korea-US summits. He has since made three more visits to have summits with the Chinese leader; even Xi Jinping visited the North ? the first Chinese state visit to Pyongyang in 14 years. President Xi Jinping needed to meet his North Korean counterpart to maintain and strengthen his influence on North Korea and the Korean Peninsula amid the on-going battle with the U.S. for supremacy. The two leaders restored their relationship and had five meetings for their own purposes. During the summits, Kim Jong Un asserted the North’s sovereignty; Xi Jinping emphasized China’s role in the nuclear negotiations.
At the moment, summit diplomacy between China and North Korea takes the form of a “state-to-state” diplomacy based on “party-to-party” relations.