Xi seeks to weaken Russia-NK ties with visit: expert

WASHINGTON — Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming trip to North Korea appears to be partially driven by Beijing's desire to weaken deepening ties between Moscow and Pyongyang and the United States' calls for cooperation in dealing with the recalcitrant regime, a U.S. expert said Friday.

Victor Cha, president of the geopolitics and foreign policy department and Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) made the remarks during a CSIS podcast, after Pyongyang's state media reported this week that Xi will visit the North on Monday and Tuesday in what would be his first trip there since 2019.

Xi's planned trip follows his separate summits with U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing last month, and his visit to South Korea from late October to early November to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. "I think part of what is driving this (trip) is Trump in the sense that ... we would admonish the Chinese side all the time, 'Look, you've got to help us on North Korea because if you don't, you know, Japan and