China and North Korea Exchange High-Level Visits Amid Deepening Russia Ties

China and North Korea conducted a series of reciprocal high-level visits in July, including talks between Workers' Party secretary Jo Yong Won and Chinese Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Huning in Pyongyang, and North Korean Premier Pak Thae Song's meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. These exchanges follow Xi's first visit to North Korea in seven years and come as Beijing works to keep pace with Pyongyang's deepening military and economic ties with Moscow amid Russia's war in Ukraine. Officially commemorating the 65th anniversary of the China-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, the visits underscore a shift in China's stance: Beijing has refrained from raising North Korea's nuclear issues, effectively recognizing Pyongyang as a nuclear-armed state. Analysts suggest China is creating space for North Korea to evade U.S. and U.N. sanctions while strengthening bilateral cooperation, even as Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo bolster their trilateral security coordination.