Xi Jinping lands in Pyongyang today. The optics are carefully managed. Smiles. Handshakes. A summit that feels more like a stage production than diplomacy.
But beneath the surface, this is raw geopolitics. Xi needs Kim. Kim needs Xi. And both know it.
For China, North Korea is the strategic buffer. A thorn in America's side that Beijing can selectively remove or sharpen. Xi’s visit signals that China will not abandon its client state. Not while the US-Nato alliance eyes the Indo-Pacific.
For Kim, the calculus is simpler. He wants sanctions relief. He wants legitimacy. And he wants a nuclear deterrent that keeps him in power. Xi can offer none of these things outright, but his presence alone is a shield against UN Security Council action.
Inside the Foreign Office, alarm bells are ringing. Not because Xi is in Pyongyang, but because it changes the game for London’s own denuclearisation push. UK monitors have been tracking Yongbyon’s enrichment activity for weeks. The Intelligence and Security Committee is rattled.
One Whitehall insider described it as “a finely balanced nightmare.” China’s leverage over Kim is growing. But so is the risk that Beijing miscalculates. If Kim tests another nuclear device while Xi is in town, the diplomatic fallout would be catastrophic. For everyone.
The opposition is circling. Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy has already demanded a Commons statement. Expect plenty of “we are monitoring the situation closely” from the dispatch box. That’s code for: we have no idea what happens next.
Let’s be blunt. This visit is about one thing: leverage. Xi wants to show Washington he can control the Korean peninsula. Kim wants to show Washington he cannot be controlled. The rest is theatre.
And Whitehall is left watching from the sidelines, hoping the bombs stay in the ground.
