Xi Jinping emphasizes the issue of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula

Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un

The fact that President Xi Jinping rushed to inform US President Donald Trump about the results of the meeting, and that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe commented while speaking at the Japanese Senate, shows how much attention this trip is receiving.

Kim Jong-un's visit is also of interest because he has promised to meet the South Korean president in April and the US president in May this year to discuss the situation on the peninsula. It is not known exactly what the leaders of the two Koreas and the US will talk about in the upcoming meetings, observers are now trying to guess what may happen in the future.

Of course, Kim Jong-un arrived in Beijing just before those crucial talks. It was his first visit to China since taking power in North Korea in 2011. It seems that the North Korean leader had been very unhappy with China for its participation in the sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council against North Korea.

President Xi Jinping emphasizes the issue of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula

More than anyone else, China does not want war on the Korean Peninsula, especially if it is nuclear. Beijing is also well aware of the negative consequences that would follow if the Kim regime collapsed: nuclear contamination would spread to Chinese territory, North Korean refugees would pour into the neighboring region, and the US military would move even closer to China's borders. And there is also no ignoring the fact that the demise of the North Korean government, led by the Communist Party, would be a major blow to the image of another Communist Party, the Communist Party of China.

So President Xi Jinping decided to work with the young North Korean leader. Although the visit was unofficial, Kim Jong-un's reception was held at the level of an official head of state: with a red carpet, an honor guard, and fireworks to welcome Kim Jong-un and his wife. Behind the clinking of glasses with red wine, observers noted that Xi Jinping advised his guest to "promote reform and peaceful development" of the DPRK and repeatedly mentioned the need to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

Kim Jong-un seems to agree with this. In fact, he puts his "denuclearization" stance on certain conditions: "The issue of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula can be resolved if South Korea and the United States respond in good faith to our efforts to create an atmosphere of peace and stability and take consistent and coordinated measures to achieve peace," Xinhua news agency quoted Kim Jong-un as saying.

And Kim Jong-un also believes that denuclearization means reducing US nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula.

Mr. Kim Jong-un during his visit to China

It is unlikely to be the kind of denuclearization that Washington, Tokyo and Seoul are looking for. "What is important now is for North Korea to completely abandon its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.

Obviously, Pyongyang will not do this. Kim Jong-un knows well what price Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi paid for accepting Western demands to give up their WMD. The honesty and correctness of the White House cannot be trusted. Like his father and grandfather, Kim Jong-un needs a nuclear shield to protect North Korea’s socialist self-reliance.

But this is not a dead end. After all, there are nuclear arsenals in frozen form in India, Pakistan, Israel, and that does not cause any particular concern in the international community.

Or perhaps President Xi Jinping promised Kim Jong-un that China would extend its “nuclear umbrella” over North Korea?