US asks China to use influence on Russia and North Korea

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and South Korea have called on China to use its influence over Russia and North Korea to prevent escalation after Pyongyang sent thousands of troops to Russia to help Moscow in the war against Ukraine. Beijing remains silent for now.

In a rare meeting earlier this week, three senior US diplomats met with China’s ambassador to the US to highlight US concerns and urge China to use its influence on North Korea to try to curtail cooperation, according to a State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that the two sides “just had a robust conversation this week” and that China knows the U.S. expectation that “they will use the influence they need to rein in these activities.”

“But I think this is a signal of demand that is coming not only from us, but from countries around the world,” he said at a news conference in Washington with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and their South Korean counterparts.

The US says 8,000 North Korean soldiers are in Russia near the border with Ukraine and are preparing to help the Kremlin fight against Ukrainian troops in the coming days.

Beijing created Partnership “without restrictions” with MoscowAnd while Beijing has been Pyongyang’s main ally, experts say Beijing may not approve of a closer military partnership between Russia and North Korea because it sees it as a destabilizing factor in the region.

Asked about the meeting between U.S. and Chinese diplomats, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a briefing Wednesday in Beijing that he had “no information to provide.”

He added that China’s position regarding Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula is consistent. China called for a ceasefire and called for peace talks to end war in Ukraine. And it has long advocated for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

The Russia-North Korea partnership runs counter to Beijing’s goals of creating a peaceful Korean peninsula, said Shi Yinhong, an international relations expert at Renmin University of China.

Beijing is “aware of the complexity and danger of the situation,” Shi said, noting that “the fact that China has not yet said anything on the military alliance agreement between North Korea and Russia indicates that China strongly disagrees with it.”

Dennis Wilder, a senior fellow at the US-China Dialogue Initiative on Global Issues at Georgetown University, called Beijing’s “radio silence” on North Korea’s actions “stunning.” He said Beijing must find a balance between supporting Moscow and not angering the West, and that Chinese President Xi Jinping could “ignore all of this for his own sake.”

Xi Jinping has developed a personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and “he cannot afford to let Putin fail,” Wilder said this week at a panel discussion organized by the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

At the same time, Xi Jinping cannot anger Europeans and Americans when his country’s economy is struggling, Wilder said.

“So he’s not going to say anything publicly about it,” Wilder said.

Austin said Thursday that China “has to ask Russia some tough questions at this point and whether it intends to widen this conflict with behavior like this.”

Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Dan Krietenbrink and Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs James O’Brien met with Chinese envoy Xie Feng in Washington on Tuesday, said a State Department spokesman, who would not detail China’s response.

Lu Chao, director of the Institute of American and East Asian Studies at Liaoning University in northeastern China’s Liaoning province, said the United States should not expect China to rule North Korea.

“On the issue of the Korean Peninsula, China is a friend of both North Korea and South Korea. It is not the case that China is responsible for governing North Korea and the US is responsible for governing South Korea,” Lu said. “I hope the US government can understand China’s position.”

Lu also said that the deployment of troops is a “matter between Russia and North Korea,” while China’s position remains unchanged: the conflict should not be escalated, but resolved through a political solution.