The announcement that Chinese President Xi Jinping will travel to Pyongyang for a state visit has sent shivers through the British diplomatic establishment. This is not a holiday, it is a signal: Beijing is placing its chips on a regime that treats international sanctions as mere suggestions. For the City, the calculus is unsettling.
Every time the West tightens the noose on North Korea, Chinese capital quietly finds its way into the Hermit Kingdom. The visit may be dressed in the language of regional stability, but the bottom line is clear. China is securing its strategic hedge, and the nuclear provocations that follow will be the market noise we have all learned to dread.
Gilt yields will twitch, gold will glisten, and the pound will feel the heat of geopolitical flight.
