Can Japan-China talks change course on North Korea’s alliance with Russia?
Meeting aims to address growing security challenges, but analysts say Beijing is unlikely to be able to influence Pyongyang’s actions
Japan’s top security envoy is in Beijing for talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to discuss a response to North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia’s war in Ukraine, but experts say Tokyo will mostly likely find Beijing unwilling or unable to alter Pyongyang’s stance.
Takeo Akiba, head of Japan’s National Security Secretariat, flew to Beijing on Sunday, national broadcaster NHK said. His meeting with Wang aims to address the escalating security challenges posed by Pyongyang’s deepening military ties with Moscow.
“It’s clear that both Tokyo and Beijing are very concerned about these developments, but I do not think China can really apply too much pressure to North Korea,” said Ryo Hinata-Yamaguchi, an associate professor at Tokyo International University’s Institute for International Strategy.
“I think many people often overestimate what China can do with regard to North Korea, and while they are displeased by what is happening there, Beijing has not really had much influence in Pyongyang for a long time,” he told This Week in Asia.
While Tokyo and Beijing will share many concerns linked to North Korea and its deepening friendship and military ties with Russia, Hinata-Yamaguchi points out that there are still serious bilateral problems between China and Japan that are likely to hamper any efforts to unite on a common policy towards Pyongyang.
“China does not trust Japan enough to share information on North Korea or anything like that,” he said. “Perhaps the one positive thing for Tokyo that has come out of North Korea and Russia building this military alliance is that Japan and South Korea have got much closer from a security perspective.”
