Convergence remains on approach to DPRK issue

After US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that China agreed that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea cannot just freeze its nuclear weapons program in exchange for benefits, China clarified on Thursday that this was not a change to its position that its "dual suspension" proposal is the best "first step" for defusing the crisis.

Given Trump's intimate, and no doubt frank, conversations with President Xi Jinping during his visit to Beijing, he will be aware that China still believes the DPRK suspending its nuclear-related activities and the United States suspending its military drills with the Republic of Korea is the best way to establish an environment conducive to the two antagonists - and the regional stakeholders - engaging in talks.

With Song Tao, head of the Communist Party of China Central Committee's International Department, paying a visit to the DPRK as special envoy of Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, there has naturally been a lot of conjecture about the content of the latest high-level contact between the two neighbors.