Summit with Trump and Kim, is influenced by China
Kim said the reason he withdrew from the meeting with the South was because of the
Max Thunder 2018 joint U.S.-South Korea air force exercises that were underway.
I am not buying that.
Back in April, when Kim seemed devoted to peace, the U.S. and South Korea held two
other annual joint military events: Foal Eagle and Key Resolve. Kim issued no objection
to these, and they did not hinder his visit to the South at that time. Max Thunder 2018 is
only an extension of those two previous exercises, scheduled and announced well in advance.
On March 25—before Kim’s outreach to South Korea and the United States—he made
a surprise visit to China. This was his first foreign trip since assuming power in 2011.
It was only after that historic meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping that Kim
began reaching out to America and South Korea with offers of peace.
On May 8, just before Kim began retracting all those olive branches he had offered,
he traveled to China for a second time and met with Xi again.
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China’s leaders support Kim Jong-il’s regime because a rogue North Korea
serves China’s ambitions, both within the region and in the global arena!
If Xi does not feel genuinely threatened by the U.S. leadership, he may be in no hurry
to truly withdraw support of the Kim regime. He may be inclined instead to prolong the
ambiguity and confusion, and to use North Korea’s oscillations between charm and
threats to distract the Trump administration for as long as possible.
America’s midterm election is only five months away, and politicians who oppose Trump’s
protectionist efforts may win control of the legislature. So buying time in this way could
be of great value for Xi Jinping.
The world should be considerably more concerned about Russia and China than
about North Korea because those two nations are the ones that enable the Kim
regime’s duplicity and belligerence.