▲ This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on June 9, 2026, shows the North's leader Kim Jong-un (R) and Chinese President Xi Jinping posing for a photo as they held summit talks in Pyongyang the previous day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

(News Focus) N Korea-China summit

(News Focus) Summit shows China more focused on countering U.S. influence than curbing N.K. nukes: expert

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, June 9 (Yonhap) -- China appeared more focused on countering U.S. regional influence than on addressing North Korea's nuclear program, given the absence of any public reference to Pyongyang's denuclearization in either country's readout of their summit this week, an expert said Tuesday.

Patrick Cronin, chair for Asia-Pacific security at the Hudson Institute, made the remarks in a written interview with Yonhap News Agency, noting that the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Pyongyang on Monday underlined their unity amid an intensifying Sino-U.S. rivalry.

Xi visited the North Korean capital on Monday and Tuesday on his first trip to the country since 2019, as strategic competition between the United States and China has been deepening on multiple fronts, including trade, maritime security and technological leadership.

"China is more focused on denying U.S. influence than denying North Korea nuclear weapons," Cronin said.

"Kim is fixated on tactical victory, thinking every time a big power omits a reference to denuclearization that confers legitimacy on North Korea's claim to be a permanent nuclear-weapon state," he added.

Xi's high-profile meeting with Kim came after he held summit talks with U.S. President Donald Trump in Beijing last month, during which the White House said the two leaders confirmed their "shared goal" of denuclearizing North Korea.

But there was no public reference to North Korea's denuclearization or anything to that effect in reports by the two countries' state media, raising questions over whether there has been a shift in China's approach to the reclusive state's nuclear quandary.

During Xi's trip to Pyongyang in 2019, Xi pointed out China's support for efforts toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

China has backed the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as North Korea's nuclear adventurism could trigger nuclear armament in South Korea and Japan, the two core Asian allies of the U.S., its key strategic rival.

Cronin noted that through the summit, China drove home a key message: unity with its traditional ally.

"Unity is the message, and the united front has the latent capability to stand up to the United States and its allies," the scholar said.

But he pointed out that as China and North Korea gain greater confidence, their interest in unity, bilaterally and trilaterally with Russia, tends to diminish.

The two leaders' pursuit of unity masked their divergent interests in some areas, but they showed their determination to create a "more favorable balance of power" in Northeast Asia, the expert said.

For the North Korean leader, the summit came as he wants to burnish his regime's identity as a member of the nuclear-power club, a move meant to send messages to both domestic and foreign audiences, he said.

Rob Rapson, former acting U.S. ambassador to South Korea, cast the Xi-Kim summit largely as another "notable data point in the continuum of evolving Northeast Asia geopolitics/economics."

"In a year marked by a burst of summitry in the region, Xi essentially reminded Pyongyang that North Korea matters to Beijing. Kim reciprocated that sentiment," Rapson told Yonhap News Agency via email.

Noting that Xi did not appear to have touched on the denuclearization issue during the summit with Kim, Rapson stressed that the nuclear issue will have to be finessed for any prospect of future reengagement between the U.S. and North Korea.

"With or without Xi's help, I still believe Trump will make one more strong push to meet with Kim, if only for legacy purposes," he said.

But time and opportunity are running out, he added, apparently referring to the limited time remaining in Trump's presidency, which runs until January 2029, and a range of domestic and foreign policy challenges that he faces.

Pyongyang has also shown little interest in resuming dialogue with Washington, particularly as it has deepened economic, diplomatic and military cooperation with Moscow.

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