Former East Asia-Pacific assistant secretary says China will stay on the sidelines even if diplomacy resumes

Skeptical that US-China summit will yield meaningful agreement on North Korea

US President Donald Trump (left) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pose for a photo at the second North Korea-US summit, held at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February 2019. [Getty Images]
US President Donald Trump (left) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pose for a photo at the second North Korea-US summit, held at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February 2019. [Getty Images]

Chinese President Xi Jinping will not stand in the way of Donald Trump's hopes to resume dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un — but he is unlikely to offer meaningful help either, a former senior US official said.

Daniel Kritenbrink, former assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said Thursday (local time) that he does not expect China to block diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang. "I would not anticipate China obstructing North Korea-US diplomacy," he said in response to a question from Yonhap.

He added that China could take limited steps to support a resumption of North Korea-US talks, but said Beijing would ultimately stay on the sidelines. "China will be skeptical of any significant improvement in relations between Washington and Pyongyang, so even if talks resume, I would not expect China to position itself at the center of that diplomacy," he said.

The assessment suggests that even if Trump asks Xi for help restarting talks with Kim at their White House summit on Sept. 24, China is unlikely to take any proactive steps.

"President Trump may ask China for general support, but I don't think he believes he needs Xi's help to resume dialogue with Chairman Kim," Kritenbrink said.

Kritenbrink oversaw China and North Korea policy under the Joe Biden administration and resigned shortly after the Trump administration took office for its second term. He is now a partner at The Asia Group, a Washington-based consulting firm founded by former Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.

He said he expects North Korea to come up at the US-China summit but expressed doubt about the outcome. "I am skeptical that any meaningful agreement will be reached," he said.

On Trump's recent overtures toward Kim, Kritenbrink said the president "appears to hope to pursue diplomacy with North Korea and Chairman Kim in his second term, just as he did in his first." He added, however, that he was "somewhat skeptical" about whether North Korea would be interested, citing Kim's experience with the first Trump administration and the level of support Pyongyang currently receives from Russia and China.

"China could welcome such diplomacy to the extent that it helps promote stability on the Korean Peninsula," he said, "but China will be skeptical of improved relations between Washington and Pyongyang, so I would expect Xi to maintain a cautious posture on this issue."

Asked whether the two leaders would reaffirm their commitment to North Korea's denuclearization at the summit, Kritenbrink said neither side would change its longstanding position on the matter. He noted, however, that "just as in Beijing in May, the two sides may differ in how they publicly characterize their positions."

After the US-China summit in Beijing in mid-May, the White House said in a fact sheet that the two leaders had "affirmed their shared goal of denuclearizing North Korea." China, however, made no explicit mention of denuclearization, saying only that its Korean Peninsula policy remained consistent.


yckim6452@heraldcorp.com