CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/NATIONAL SECURITY/NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR: “A trip to Pyongyang by a special envoy of Chinese President Xi Jinping offers a chance for Beijing to manage relations with its troublesome neighbor after months of frayed ties and stepped-up U.S. pressure to rein in North Korea’s nuclear program.
The two sides will ‘exchange opinions on matters of mutual concern’ during the envoy’s visit later this week, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said. The trip’s main objective, he said, would be to brief Pyongyang after of the twice-a-decade party congress in Beijing last month—what he termed as ‘common practice.’
The congress granted Mr. Xi a second term and elevated him in the Communist pantheon to Mao-like status. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un congratulated Mr. Xi on the congress, and Mr. Xi responded with a call for both sides to promote better relations, according to North Korean state media.
Chinese and North Korean officials have held high-level meetings about once a year in recent years, and the envoy’s visit fits that timeline.”
-Te-Ping Chen and Johnathan Cheng, “China Envoy’s Task: Manage Ties With Nuclear North Korea,” The Wall Street Journal online, Nov. 15, 2017 10:25am