Around 8,000 members of the Korean People’s Army are expected to soon enter combat in the Kursk region currently occupied by the Korean armed forces. Ukrainian militaryestimate American defense officials.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says that the soldiers are equipped with Russian uniforms and weapons in order to mask their cooperation – a sign that both countries are aware that North Korea’s entry into the conflict could create a sense of urgency within the international community if an external power was involved.

If any country could be expected to approve this joint military operation, it would be China – the current third musketeer of geopolitical upheaval in Asia.

However, the Chinese Communist Party is reluctant to get involved.

Asked at a press conference on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian distanced himself from Beijing from North Korea’s decisions and Russia.

“We have recently noted some reports on this and the responses from various parties. The DPRK and Russia are two independent sovereign states, and how to develop bilateral relations is a matter for themselves,” Jian told reporters. “China is not aware of the specifics of bilateral exchanges and cooperation between the DPRK and Russia.”

He reiterated the Chinese government’s position on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, saying the country “hopes that the parties will strive to ease tensions and remain committed to the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis,” without elaborating.

This comment came just a day later US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that they had been in contact with their Chinese counterparts to discuss the issue.

“I think they are well aware of our concerns and our expectations that, both in word and in deed, they will use the influence that they have to work to curb these activities,” Blinken said at a news conference with South Korean leaders. THURSDAY.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed shock at China’s “silence” in a wide-ranging national security update posted on social media on Thursday.

“North Korea’s actions are not random; they have strategic objectives. I am surprised by China’s silence,” the Ukrainian president wrote. “I cannot say that China is on our side, but as a guarantor of regional security, its silence is striking.”

A long series of state visits by President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putinand North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un has in recent years presented the trio as a rising military coalition.

Kim, a cautious leader normally opposed to leaving his hermit kingdom, traveled by train to Beijing for a rare state visit with Xi in January 2019, ahead of his meeting with then-President Donald Trump the month following. Xi returned the favor that summer with the first visit by a Chinese supreme leader to North Korea in more than 14 years.

Putin has visited China every year since the invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. Xi visited Putin in 2023, where he signed a joint agreement to expand cooperation between the two countries. He also participated in the 16th annual BRICS summit in Russia in October this year.

Kim also made diplomatic trips to Russia in 2019 and 2023 – a show of loyalty that Putin rewarded with one of the rare state visits by a foreign leader to North Korea in 2024, where both dictators were photographed laughing and playing in luxury cars. for state media.

After Russia’s first incursions into Ukraine in early 2022, China adopted a policy of neither supporting nor condemning Putin’s decision. Chinese Communist Party leaders have consistently made boilerplate appeals for peace and made offers to facilitate such negotiations.

China’s political proximity to Russia makes these gestures both suspect and valuable to Ukraine.

Zelensky said in a May interview that he would like China to be involved in peace negotiations because Xi’s voice would have influence over Putin’s. That overture was complicated when Ukraine later accused China of pressuring other countries not to attend a peace conference in June. Swiss.

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Ukraine’s president on Thursday floated the idea of ​​an “Asian Security Alliance” – a hypothetical coalition made up of Japan, South Koreaand China that would rein in North Korea and maintain stability in the East Asian region.

“Japan and South Korea are strong, civilized nations, and reaching out to China could be key to countering North Korea’s aggression, as North Korea actively drags this region into war” , Zelensky said. “Their actions are not a coincidence: they want Russia’s support in return.”

Dialogue already exists between the countries during their annual China-Japan-South Korea trilateral summit, which last met in May this month. But Zelensky’s proposed alliance remains an unlikely aspiration due to long-standing political tensions between the three members.