Speculation is rising that Chinese President Xi Jinping – possibly accompanied by an honor guard of People’s Liberation Army troops – will appear alongside local leader Kim Jong Un at a symbolically important parade in Pyongyang next month.
At a time when Washington has unleashed a trade war upon Beijing, while the denuclearization process agreed between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Singapore at their June summit appears to be stalled, the appearance of the Chinese leader – and elite PLA troops – would send a significant cross-Pacific message about Sino-North Korean amity.
September 9 is the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding, and the day is expected to be marked with a massive parade in Kim Il Sung square. The flagship plaza at the center of Pyongyang was created from the rubble of buildings bombed flat during the Korean War, and is a frequent site for massive military parades.
Chinese state newspapers including the Global Times and Reference News have run stories this week speculating on the size and significance of the big parade. Typically though, neither the Korean Central News Agency nor Korean Central Television – key media organs in one of the world’s most opaque states – have dropped any hints about the upcoming muster of military might.
Lack of censorship looks to confirm speculation
Posts hinting that President Xi will visit Pyongyang to review troops alongside Kim have not been pulled from social networking platforms by party censors since related rumors started to swirl last month. Nor has talk that Xi may dispatch PLA honor guards to goose-step shoulder-to-shoulder with their North Korean comrades.
While Xi and Kim had never met before this year due to bilateral tensions sparked by Kim’s execution of his uncle Jang Song-taek – who had strong connections in Beijing – and by China’s support for international sanctions, they have met three times so far in 2018. The meetings proceeded as part of Kim’s unprecedented diplomatic offensive, which has also seen him meet Trump once, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in twice.
The friendship between the two avowedly communist states may be in a process of rejuvenation, but is not new. China’s intervention in the Korean War saved the North Korean state from extinction at the hands of US-led UN forces in October 1950.
In 1961, the two signed the Sino-North Korean Mutual Aid and Cooperation Friendship Treaty; its second article calls for mutual defense against external enemies. The treaty has been renewed twice and is up for renegotiation in 2021.
Goose-steppers’ paradise, but no ICBM?
The general consensus is that the parade could be considerably larger than one held in February on the anniversary of the Korean People’s Army.
Large cavalcades of troops, tanks and artillery on the ground and swarms of war-craft in the air are anticipated, after Kim reportedly ordered the military to put its best foot forward to shore up the morale of North Koreans and cast the image of an invincible army.
The Mirim Parade Training Ground in Pyongyang has been a hive of activity, as seen on satellite imagery taken earlier this month, with around 120 military vehicles in formations, including assault tanks, unmanned-aerial-vehicle launchers and six tarp-covered Scud-class transporter-erector-launchers, among others, captured practicing on the facility’s roads.
A replica of Kim Il Sung Square, and an expended tent area believed to house and service troops were also visible in these images.
But the Global Times cited the Stimson Center, a Washington-based think tank, as saying that no launchers for intercontinental ballistic missiles were spotted so far.
Cui Zhiying, director of the Shanghai-based Tongji University Korean Peninsula Research Center, told the tabloid that the Hwasong-15 nuclear warhead-capable ICBMs – with a theoretical range covering almost all of the US – would not be showcased this time for the sake of the thaw in ties between Pyongyang and Washington.
However, those ties, over the last week, appear in danger of freezing over once more, following Trump’s order to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to travel to Pyongyang last Friday to attend negotiations. Trump cited a lack of progress in North Korea’s denuclearization as the reason for his move.
Moon on a mission
Xi, assuming he does appear in Pyongyang, will not be the only high-profile visitor in September. Amid an apparent downturn in relations between Pyongyang and Washington, South Korean President Moon has also announced a summit with Kim in the North Korean capital next month.
While there, Moon’s key mission will be an intermediary one. He hopes to reinvigorate the denuclearization process and bring Pyongyang and Washington back onto the same page, South Korean presidential officials say.
However, while the dates for Moon’s trip have not yet been released, he is highly unlikely to visit on the 9th – the date when the communist state was founded in contravention to his own, US-backed state in 1948.
This is just to tell the US China has NK’s back. Also a gentle reminder to US, don’t play play.
China must normalize its trade with North Korea. This will be against the UNSC resolution, but the UNSC resolution is both unjust and criminal. It is unjust because in the war between USA and North Korea, USA is the aggressor, the invader and the murderer, while North Korea is the victim of the American aggression. The UNSC resolution is criminal because it kills the Koreans, like the sanctions on Iraq in the 1990s killed half a million babies in Iraq.
If China normalizes its trade with North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the South East Asian countries will follow.
Western media is blaming the stalled talks on Kim when it’s widely known the US is denying request to end the Korean War by signing a peace treaty or showing any goodwill by lifting sanctions.
They’ll need a reinforced stage for those two tubbies, Kim & Xi
Checking out men parts again!? hahahaha
Yashad Rizvi Dummy, the Uighurs are new comers to that area and wiped out the existing people. The conflict there is actually Chinese muslims vs Uighurs. Same thing as in Tibet, centuries old conflict.
They still don’t realize USA got sidelined by Kim and Moon. Peace broke out in Korea and there’s nothing Americans can do to turn back the tide. hahahahah
WuKong Sun And now the Han Chinese are the newcomers wiping out the Uighurs !
With the CPC as your friend, you dont need enemies !
Joeseph Stalin I agree, they both need to go on a diet, it is affecting their health and making the peasantry jealous.
On the sauce (and I dont mean soy) again ?
Great a unified nuc Korea with a strong economy… just like Vietnam who kicked your butt in ’79
Yashad Rizvi Right on! Resistance is futile. Join with us or perish! Just ask the Machus, Mongolians, etc. Even American and Australian english sounds more and more Chinese by the day.
Joeseph Stalin, Yashad is either female or gay as can been constantly nagging and responding with nonsense like those old hags without any education. Take note my friends: find a good woman with good opportunity and educated with working brain.
good personality…
WuKong Sun Listening to Chinese speaking ‘Engrish’ maybe. But not anyone else.
WuKong Sun Did your girlfliend tell you that, maybe she needs a non Chinese ?
Widely known ? CPC propaganda.
No treaty was signed as the USUN refused to hand over POWs that didnt want to go back to the Communist paradises of China or NK, while the communist insisted they were all sent home.
Yashad Rizvi hhehehehe either you are in a monastery or still a virgin…hehehehehe. I did know a guy who said he always pulled out on time and it turns out his swimmers were few and too slow to get the job done. hahahahaha
Yashad Rizvi Yes Yes! 1.4 billion people at 0.59% growth will be gone in a jiffy while you holding your breath. Want to bet on it. hahahha…
Yashad Rizvi I know with high certainty all you had so far is your fingers hahahah… This wkend to the nearest construction site and see if you can get $5 for it. hahahahaha
WuKong Sun You forgot to factor in that the young ladies prefer something larger !
WuKong Sun Nope, 5 kids (that I know of). But whatabout those young chinese ladies that seem to prefer westerners.
I think you are too familiar with mrs hand and her 5 daughters.
Yashad Rizvi hahahaha and you got time trolling here 24×7. If they prefer westerners if their fvcking choice. Same for men and women. It’s none of my business or nor fvcking yours. Free choice. Maybe you heard of it. It’s a CPP mantra from the early days. I must say you’re the dumbest brick on the Internet and nagging like a 70yr old hag and regurgitating verbatim from RFA. At least they get paid. It’s best fun toilet time though. hahahaha
BTW you’re the first idiot who call your fingers your 5 kids. You got names for them tooo?
heheheheh hahahaha. fvcking laughing hurting my tummy…
I knew you’re just fvcking too retarded to do any math: 1.4b * .59% = 8m. Thats enough to replace each of the largest city in the world like NYC, HK, Tokyo, etc.
In fvxking 3 yrs that will 24m, the population of Australia. And of course more than enough those traitorious Chinese girls who prefer westerns. Writing off as lost gain. hahahahah
Yashad Rizvi Suppose it’s really kids. Was that with a cow or a woman. hahahahaha hahahahaha. I’ll should stop…. hhahahahhahahahahaha
WuKong Sun But the TFR is less than 2, so the increase is due to people living beyond 60 and not getting eaten during the cultural revolution.
Your ‘traitorous’ comment shows your physical insecurity.
WuKong Sun Like you get paid ? I heard the CPC dont pay alot, 0.5RMB ?