after Putin’s missiles, Kim’s missiles weaken Xi’s diplomacy

A North Korean missile landed near Japan as the Chinese president meets with Asia-Pacific leaders in Bangkok. On November 15, at the opening of the G20 in Bali, almost 100 Russian missiles had hit Ukraine. Xi-Kishida meeting: Tokyo asks for Beijing’s collaboration to stop Pyongyang; differences over the Senkaku Islands and Taiwan.

Beijing () – The launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile from North Korea shook today the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum: the second blow in less than a week to the diplomacy of Xi Jinping, who participates in the two-day meeting in Bangkok that ends tomorrow.

Vladimir Putin, another “friend” of China like North Korean President Kim Jong-un, had already wreaked havoc at the G20 summit in Bali: On November 15, almost 100 Russian missiles hit various targets in Ukraine.

As in Indonesia, during the summit of the 20 largest economies in the world, at the APEC meeting in Thailand, Xi is trying to mend the diplomatic fabric that has been torn apart by international geopolitical tensions and isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In the end he found himself under pressure from many sides to help end Russian aggression against Ukraine and Pyongyang’s belligerent missile tests.

Already yesterday, during the first bilateral meeting in person, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called on Xi to take action on the issue of North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs before the UN Security Council, where together with Moscow the Chinese oppose new sanctions against the Kim regime.

Around the same time, Pyongyang fired a short-range missile into the Sea of ​​Japan. According to the Japanese government, today’s one had the ability to reach all corners of the US. It would have landed off Hokkaido in northern Japan, most likely within the Japanese exclusive economic zone. Since the beginning of the year, North Korea has tested more than 50 missiles (and could be preparing a new nuclear test), operations that it justifies as a response to joint military exercises by the United States and South Korea.

Kishida’s appeal to Xi will almost certainly go unanswered, the same as the Russo-Ukrainian war. Beijing does not intend to intervene directly on Kim, and perhaps does not even have the right springs to do so, another aspect that US President Joe Biden has also stressed.

At their meeting in Bangkok, Xi and Kishida agreed to work to stabilize relations between their countries and keep communication channels open on security issues. A scenario of détente, along the lines of what happened on November 14 in Bali between the Chinese leader and Biden.

However, the differences of opinion between China and Japan remain stark. Kishida said he had conveyed to Xi his government’s “serious concerns” about China’s attempts to challenge Japanese control of the Senkaku Islands. Calling them Diaoyu, Beijing claims these islands in the East China Sea as its own, often sending civilian or military vessels to their vicinity, which Tokyo considers territorial waters.

Kishida also filed complaints over the launch of five Chinese ballistic missiles in Japan’s exclusive economic zone last August. Beijing had fired the bursts in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.