Sino File | If Xi can matchmake Trump and Korea’s Kim, why not Iran’s Rowhani too?

Xi Jinping’s Pyongyang visit could see a trade-off between the US-China trade row and denuclearisation, which both Washington and Beijing want

Likewise, the US and China can also find compatible and complementary interests in the Middle East, where the US is posturing towards war with Iran

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The US and China are now locked in an escalating confrontation on anything and everything, but could find common ground in North Korea. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:00am, 23 Jun 2019Updated: 2:00am, 23 Jun 2019

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s just-concluded visit to North Korea, which occurred a week ahead of a meeting with his United States counterpart Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan, may suggest that a likely trade-off between the US-China trade row and North Korea’s nuclear ambition is in the offing.

Many analysts believe Xi’s visit, the first in 14 years by a Chinese head of state, was aimed at gaining leverage for his upcoming summit with Trump – and thus Xi may also help broker a deal between Washington and Pyongyang.

Trump has repeatedly suggested there will be such trade-offs between the two issues as he is eager to make a breakthrough ahead of the US presidential elections next year, following the February collapse of his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi. South Korean president Moon Jae-in said he hoped Xi’s visit would help end the nuclear stand-off. Obviously, Xi’s high-profile trip serves to remind Washington that Beijing can either help or complicate Trump’s pursuit of ridding Pyongyang of its nuclear ambitions.

The US and China are now locked in an escalating confrontation on anything and everything, ranging from trade, technology and human rights, to the military and geopolitics. But the North Korean nuclear issue seems to stand out as an exceptional case on which both powers can find common ground and cooperate, as Pyongyang’s ambitions serve no one’s interests and serve only to destabilise Asia, the world’s most dynamic region.

President Xi Jinping can either help or complicate President Trump’s pursuit of ridding Pyongyang of its nuclear ambitions. Photo: AP

However, the parallel development that sees the US and Iran locked in a spiralling row over Tehran’s nuclear programme may also provide an opportunity for the US and China to cooperate, as Xi has just met Iranian President Hassan Rowhani on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on June 14.

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