North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s three-day meeting with Chinese
President Xi Jinping in Beijing this week likely focused on a range of
issues including economic ties, nuclear talks and the possibility of a second summit between Kim and U.S.
President Donald Trump.
But
there’s one topic that likely wasn’t officially discussed despite its
importance to North Korea’s future: The prospect of Pyongyang joining China’s
continent-spanning Belt and Road Initiative, a
project aiming to link more than 60 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and the
Middle East through overland and maritime routes.
The
isolated state is hungry for foreign investments, particularly in
infrastructure, as U.N. sanctions take a toll on its
economy. Many believe that’s been a major reason underlining Kim’s
engagement with the international community over the past year or so.
Pyongyang’s economic goal
Now that
the head of state has made major strides in nuclear technology,
he can focus on his other major policy goal —economic
development, politics watchers say.
But to do so, Pyongyang needs help from its rich neighbors. The
nuclear-armed nation is seeking more than $7.7 million in investment, the
Seoul-based online newspaper NK News reported
last month, citing information from a website run by North Korea’s foreign
trade ministry.
Xi’s Belt and Road project offers the perfect answer to those needs.
China has historically been Pyongyang’s largest trading partner.
Pyongyang “would love to be part of Belt and Road,” Dane Chamorro, a
senior partner in the Asia Pacific division of Control Risks, a consulting firm
specializing in politics told CNBC on Friday. Kim’s government is waiting for
an invitation so his country can get assistance on the construction of railway
links and ports and other facilities, Chamorro said.
Beijing also seems keen on Pyongyang’s inclusion, with the Chinese
government inviting a North Korean delegation to attend a Belt and Road summit
in 2017 — but it’s unlikely to take any action for now.
Including Pyongyang in the BRI is “probably more trouble than it’s
worth” at the present moment, said Mintaro Oba, a former U.S. State Department
official who specialized in the Koreas during the administration of
former President Barack Obama.
For one, sanctions still remain in place. Beijing, however, has called for those penalties to be
eased.
Source: CNBC