China and North Korea Enter a New Phase as Sanctions Lose Their Impact

Xi Jinping's visit to Pyongyang and new agreements with Moscow have led to developments that, according to supporters of closer regional cooperation, make Western sanctions increasingly ineffective and potentially counterproductive for the United States. North Korea Develops Rapidly as a Nuclear Power Chinese President Xi Jinping visited North Korea for only the second time in nearly 14 years in power and seven years after his first trip to the country. Xi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced that relations between China and the DPRK had entered a new historical stage,” with the two sides reaching an important consensus” on bilateral relations and regional security while pledging to defend each other's sovereignty. Beijing declared its readiness to sharply expand practical cooperation in trade, agriculture, healthcare, construction, science and technology. Notably, the final communiqués contained no mention whatsoever of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. This marks a significant departure from Xi's 2019 visit, when Beijing publicly called for North Korea's nuclear disarmament.