North Korea slams Blinken's recent China visit as 'begging trip'
North Korea has depicted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's recent visit to China as a "disgraceful begging trip", calling it a failure of policy to exert pressure on Beijing.
The rare visit was aimed at begging for the relaxation of tensions as the "attempt to press and restrain China may become a boomerang striking a fatal blow to the US economy," Jong Yong, an international affairs analyst, said in a commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Wednesday.
"In a word, the US state secretary's recent junket can never be judged otherwise than a disgraceful begging trip of the provoker admitting the failure of the policy of putting pressure on China," he said.
The analyst further blamed Washington for escalating regional tensions with "anti-China complexes" such as the so-called Quad strategic security group, which includes Japan, Australia, India, and the United States, as well as the Australia-UK-US security deal known as AUKUS.
"It is the height of the double-dealing and impudence peculiar to the US to provoke first and then talk about the so-called 'responsible control over divergence of opinion,'" he said.
Blinken arrived in Beijing on Sunday on a high-stakes diplomatic mission in a bid to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies amid little hope for much progress in the talks.
During his two-day visit, Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying they had agreed to stabilize their intense rivalry so it did not veer into conflict.
He also noted that he has urged China to encourage North Korea to stop launching missiles as Beijing holds a "unique position" to press Pyongyang to engage in dialogue.
North Korea is reeling under harsh sanctions by the US and UN Security Council over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, which have not prevented it from developing its military capabilities as a deterrent against hostile West-led moves.
Pyongyang maintains that it will not tolerate persisting US-led war games in the region, underlining that it will continue responding to joint military maneuvers of its adversaries by holding its own drills as well as developing all sorts of weaponry, including long-range missiles.
Blinken’s visit came amid deteriorating ties between China and the US on various issues including trade, technology, and regional security.
Prior to his visit to Beijing, Blinken had said the trip aims to establish communication channels to avoid the ongoing rivalry between the two nations to spiral into a military conflict.
He said to avoid a conflict with China they should start with “communicating.”
Blinken is the highest-ranking US official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office in 2021.
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