Chinese envoy's visit to Pyongyang
By Lee Seong-hyon
China sent a qualified envoy to Pyongyang. The problem was that the envoy was “minimally” qualified. North Korea knew it was a test. The North Korean leader let Xi’s envoy “wait around” for four days, causing him much anxiety, and yet never showed up to see him. Many Chinese took this as an insult. Such feelings, however, may be unwarranted. The envoy, after all, fulfilled his mission well, meeting with North Korean officials appropriate to his rank. Meeting Kim, though, is in another realm.
Song Tao is a “qualified” envoy. He is head of the Communist Party's External Affairs Department (zhonglianbu). This organ, not the Chinese foreign ministry, handles relations with North Korea, including those with the Workers’ Party. The just-concluded 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CCP) was a party event. The Chinese Communist Party and the North Korean Workers' Party have the “custom” to explain the outcome of important political events by sending delegations to each other’s country. As such, China sent Song, representing the CCP, to North Korea.
Second, China yet sent a “minimally” qualified envoy. In the past, China dispatched much higher ranking dignitaries. In 2007 after the 17th Congress, China sent Propaganda Department chief Liu Yunshan, a member of the powerful Political Bureau, to Pyongyang. In 2012, after the 18th Congress, China sent Li Jianguo, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, and again a Political Bureau member. Song is just a ministerial-level official and his pecking order in the CCP is below the Political Bureau.
Third, it was possible that North Korea therefore took the choice of Song as an “insult,” not the other way around. On top of that, strangely, Song was given the special title “Xi Jinping’s envoy.” This poses a dilemma on the part of North Korea. Song is a mere working level official. North Korean leader Kim wouldn’t need to meet him, based on the usual diplomatic decorum. But then, Song visited with the hat that represented the authority of Xi Jinping. Should Kim then have met Song?
The tabloid Global Times, under the People’s Daily, sent out a veiled warning to North Korea. “We hope Pyongyang can treat this visit (by Song) seriously. Song is the special envoy of Xi, which is very different from other diplomats.” Kim, however, rejected the pretense.
Looking back on the intrigue, there may have been multiple calculations for China to dispatch such a mid-level envoy. One, Beijing may have taken Washington’s counsel into consideration. The U.S. frowns when China sends a senior envoy to North Korea, which could be wrongly seen as a “reward” by Pyongyang when the latter misbehaves.
Two, China may have purposely sent an envoy who was “not too high, not too low,” given that China and North Korea haven’t had high-level exchanges for quite a long time and the two have the biggest divergence of opinions over Pyongyang’s nuclear program. If a Chinese political heavyweight went to Pyongyang and returned empty-handed, without any progress on the nuclear program, and without meeting Kim, that would have been a diplomatic disaster. Song, a mid-level official would then be a “safe” choice.
Three, speculation is that China actually used the occasion to “test” Kim, a young and defiant leader. This is consistent with an old habit of the Chinese in attempting to “shape” North Korea and “sow” influence in their asymmetrical relationship. (South Korea accepted the allusion and now Chinese mid-level officials meet with South Korean senior officials, treating them as their “counterparts.”) North Korea has never caved into such attempts by China and has never lost face, in spite of dealing with a more powerful patron from the Cold War era.
Song, in North Korea, fulfilled his mission appropriate to his rank. North Korea didn’t “insult” him either. Song in Pyongyang met with Choe Ryong-hae, a member of the standing committee of the Workers’ Party, and Ri Su-yong, a member of the party’s political bureau. Both rank higher than Song in the overall scheme of things. We should also note that North Korea's Ambassador to China Ji Jae-ryong personally greeted Song at the Beijing airport “before and after” Song's trip to Pyongyang. It was North Korea giving “face” to Xi’s envoy. Meeting with Kim? That may be in another realm according to North Korean standards.
Lee Seong-hyon (sunnybbsfs@gmail.com), Ph.D., is a research fellow at the Sejong Institute.