Japan Wary of Closer China-N. Korea Military Ties after Xi Visit

Tokyo, June 9 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government is cautious about closer military ties between China and North Korea following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s latest visit to Pyongyang. Tokyo believes that the security environment surrounding Japan would become more severe if North Korea boosts defense cooperation with China in addition to Russia. It is scrambling to collect and analyze intelligence on possible discussions between Xi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un regarding North Korea’s nuclear weapon development at their meeting held Monday. At a press conference Tuesday, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara declined to comment directly on the impact of the Xi-Kim summit on the situation in Asia while saying that the Japanese government is “collecting and analyzing relevant information with serious interest.” “We will work closely with the international community, including the United States and South Korea,” the top government spokesman added. Beijing-Pyongyang ties had been strained in recent years due to North Korea’s push for nuclear weapons development and its growing military ties with Russia, but began to improve after Kim visited China last September. Xi told Kim at Monday’s summit that China hopes to maintain close strategic communication with North Korea. Deeper military cooperation among China, North Korea and Russia is all but certain to raise the threats to Japan, which is surrounded by the three countries. “Japan’s burden of surveillance in the Sea of Japan will increase considerably,” a senior Japanese Defense Ministry official said. Another government source said China-Russia-North Korea collaboration will become “a geopolitical game changer.” Despite Beijing having called for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in the past, a document published to sum up the Xi-Kim meeting did not include descriptions related to denuclearization. “We cannot rule out the possibility that China has changed its stance and now tolerates North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons,” a Japanese government source said. “It was within expectations that the document would have no reference to denuclearization,” a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]