As reported by the Nova Agency, the administration of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, is observing with the utmost attention the visit to Pyongyang of the special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping, scheduled for today. The visit will provide an indication of the real effectiveness of Trump's pressure on Beijing, for North Korea's traditional ally to take a tougher stance towards Pyongyang and persuade the regime to give up its nuclear ambitions.
Chinese President Xi promised to "use his great economic influence (over North Korea) to push the regime towards our common goal of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Trump said Wednesday during a press conference that closed his. long official trip to the Asian region. One of the main objectives of Trump's trip was precisely to increase the isolation of the North Korean regime as much as possible, thus stifling its war programs and forcing it into dialogue.
The United States and China have made it clear that "time is running out" and that "all options remain on the table", the US president added, implying discussions between the US and Chinese heads of state regarding hypothetical military operations and a total ban on exports of oil and derivatives to North Korea. One of the measures available to the US president is the reintegration of North Korea on the list of terrorist sponsors of the State Department; Despite the rumors, however, Trump did not formalize any decision on the matter during the press conference on Wednesday.
Trump may have suspended the decision precisely to allow China a final negotiating effort: defining Pyongyang as a "rogue state", in fact, would trigger immediate reactions from the North Korean regime, including possible ballistic or nuclear tests, which fortunately did not have occurred over the past two months.
A special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping will therefore visit North Korea today. The state media of the two countries announced this on Thursday. "Song Tao, director of the international relations department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, will soon visit the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as President Xi Jinping's special envoy," reported the North Korean regime's news agency, " Kcna ".
During the visit, Song will meet Ri Su Yong, one of the closest advisors to leader Kim Jong Un. Officially, the meeting was organized to update Pyongyang on the outcome of the 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, which was held at the end of October. Discussions, however, are likely to focus on North Korea's ballistics and nuclear programs.
Yesterday, Beijing made a proposal for a "double suspension": the shutdown of the North Korean nuclear program in exchange for a halt to the main joint military exercises of the US, South Korean and US forces. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that "given the current circumstances, the proposal is the most pragmatic, feasible, sensitive and reasonable" of those possible.
Yesterday US President Donald Trump commented on Xi's envoy's visit to Pyongyang on Twitter: “China sends an envoy and a delegation to North Korea. An important move, let's see what happens! ”, Wrote the president. White House spokesperson Sarah also said yesterday that today's visit will demonstrate whether Beijing is truly determined to exert maximum pressure on the North Korean regime.
Photo: express.co.uk