Chinese leaders back away from Kim Jung Un

According to Reuters, China quietly deferred a request by North Korea for its young leader to visit last month because the Chinese leadership was preoccupied with its once-in-a-decade leadership change and a host of other distractions, two independent sources said.

The move also suggests that China, North Korea‘s main food and oil supplier, may be seeking an assurance from the isolated state that it drops its nuclear ambitions, one source said, after military officials ignored warnings from Beijing not to go ahead with a rocket launch in April.

Kim Jong-un’s desire to visit China in September was relayed by his powerful uncle, Jang Song-thaek, effectively the second most powerful figure in North Korea, when the latter met Chinese leaders on a visit to Beijing in August.

However, China discreetly put off the request, which was never publicized, because the Chinese Communist Party has been busy preparing for its five-yearly congress which is scheduled to open on November 8 when leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping is tipped to replace Hu Jintao as party chief.

There is no new timetable for Kim‘s visit.

Analysts have said Beijing may be loath to host Kim due in part to North Korea ignoring Chinese warnings against the rocket launch in April. The Security Council, of which China is a permanent member, strongly condemned on the failed launch as a violation of council resolutions.

Any insistence on Beijing’s part for “something positive”, for instance that North Korea reins in its nuclear ambitions, would indicate that it is holding its alliance with Pyongyang to a tougher test.

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Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com