North Korean and Chinese officials confirmed on Thursday that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un will make his first visit to China in six years next week, where he will attend China’s World War II victory parade and meet with his opposite numbers in the axis of tyranny, Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China.
According to North Korean state media, Xi personally invited Kim to attend the event, along with Putin and two dozen other foreign leaders. The parade next Wednesday will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, which China often refers to as the “War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.”
China and Russia have been eager to rewrite the history of the war in order to give themselves the lion’s share of the credit for defeating Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany, respectively. The government of Japan has asked other countries not to attend China’s victory parade this year.
“We warmly welcome General Secretary Kim Jong-un to China to attend the commemorative events. Upholding, consolidating and developing the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK is a firm position of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government,” Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Hong Lei said on Thursday.
DPRK is the North Korean regime’s preferred name for itself, the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”
The Associated Press (AP) noted on Thursday that the reclusive Kim has held a few bilateral meetings with other foreign leaders, including Xi and Putin, but he has not attended a large event with multiple heads of state since he took power in 2011 following the death of his father, Kim Jong-Il.
“Given that other leaders attending are mostly from pro-Russia and pro-Chinese countries, Kim likely intends to form solidarity with those Global South countries while showing he’s leader of a normal country,” speculated Korea Research Institute for National Strategy analyst Moon Seong-mook.
“Kim’s attendance is significant for his own international stature, but it also holds weight in the balance of alliances between the U.S. and China. Xi, Putin, and now Kim attending the parade cements a visible statement about the alignment between the three countries,” former CIA analyst Soo Kim told the AP.
Other nations attending China’s military parade will include Iran, Belarus, Serbia, Cuba, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, and Malaysia.
Most Western leaders who might have been inclined to attend would have changed their plans because of Japan’s plea and Putin’s presence at the event, although Slovakia and Serbia are scheduled to attend. The United Nations is sending Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua, who was formerly an official of the Chinese Communist government.
Reuters quoted analysts who said Xi Jinping was using the World War II event to herald China’s global leadership of an “Axis of Upheaval” — they were not about to brand themselves as the Axis of Tyranny — that would be devoted to breaking down the Western-led postwar world order.
Xi also needs the opportunity to reassert his maximum leadership over China during a period of economic uncertainty and social unrest.
“When Xi was just a regional leader, he looked up to Putin, and saw the kind of leader he could learn from – and now he is a global leader. Having Kim alongside him, as well, highlights how Xi is now also a global leader,” said National University of Singapore professor Alfred Wu.
North Korea, Iran, and Russia are under heavy international sanctions and China has been the key player in circumventing those sanctions to keep money flowing into their coffers. Putin is the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, but China is one of the few major powers he can safely visit.
The BBC predicted Xi would score a “key diplomatic win” by posing for photos with Kim and Putin at the World War II parade. Not only would Xi be demonstrating China’s economic and political power by putting outlaw leaders in the VIP seats, but he would be throwing cold water on President Donald Trump’s expressed desire to negotiate an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and resume talks with North Korea.
These diplomatic flexes by Xi will be coming just a few weeks before Trump is scheduled to travel to Asia, where he hopes to meet with the Chinese leader.
“Having met both Kim and Putin, the Chinese leader would be able to sit down with Trump without feeling like he has been left out of the loop — and given his close relationship with both leaders, he may even have information his U.S. counterpart does not,” the BBC suggested.
Xi might also find a trilateral meeting with Kim and Putin useful for reasserting China’s primacy over the “Axis of Upheaval,” after North Korea forged closer ties with Russia by supplying munitions and foot soldiers for the Ukraine war.
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