Sending North Korean troops to Russia… a “test” for relations between Beijing and Pyongyang

As reports gather that North Korea has sent troops to Russia’s Kursk region, which borders Ukraine, to support Kremlin forces in their invasion of Ukraine, the These developments will affect Pyongyang’s relationship with Beijing, especially as they raise concerns. in China.

Experts who spoke to the website explained:Voice of AmericaAl-Ekhbari said China may be concerned about North Korea sending troops to Russia, as NATO sees Pyongyang as “an important sphere of influence for Beijing.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Root said on Monday that North Korea had deployed military units in the Kursk region, after South Korean delegations contacted NATO members Australia, Japan and New Zealand. about North Korea’s involvement in the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine.

Root believed that the deployment of North Korean forces, as well as the deployment of weapons and ballistic missiles, represents a “dangerous extension of Russia’s war” and poses a threat to the security of the Indian, Pacific, and Pacific regions. and Atlantic Europe.

The Secretary General of NATO indicated that Russia may be providing “military technologies and other support” to North Korea to circumvent international sanctions imposed on it.

The United States estimates that North Korea has sent about 10,000 soldiers for training in eastern Russia.

Analysts have expressed concern that this development could put pressure on China, especially as North Korea’s alliance with Russia could push NATO to strengthen its relationship with South Korea, which Beijing is the conscious situation.

In this regard, Ramon Pacheco Pardo, professor of international relations at King’s College London, who previously participated in the delegations of the European Union to talks with North Korea, South Korea, China and Japan, said, “China should be concerned about NATO’s increased focus on North Korea, especially since many NATO members see Beijing as indirectly supporting Pyongyang. ”

Pacheco Pardo explained that the deployment of North Korean forces in Russia “could push NATO to follow Pyongyang’s activities in the areas of cybersecurity and nuclear weapons programs, which could also affect China.” “

For its part, Beijing sees North Korea as a buffer zone between itself and the American forces present in South Korea, and it considers Pyongyang to be an important economic partner for it, since it works to provide economic support to the North Korean regime despite the harsh international sanctions.

Among these developments, China expressed, through the embassy’s spokesman in Washington, its desire “to calm the situation and seek a political solution,” while Chinese President Xi Jinping urged, at a high -BRICS meeting in Russia on October 23, “stop. encouraging the situation.” “Fire” in the Ukrainian crisis.

Regarding the impact of the growing relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang, Roy Camphusen, a Chinese security researcher at the National Bureau of Asian Research, said that this could “plan Beijing, which is trying to support Russia in limited way, make it difficult. without provoking violent international reactions or imposing economic sanctions.”

Camphausen explained, “China wants to gradually help Russia to win the war, but at the same time it is trying to avoid sanctions against it. “

For his part, a security analyst at the Rand Corporation, Bruce Bennett, said that Beijing could be disturbed by Russia’s growing influence in the region through military cooperation with Pyongyang, noting that China “allowed North Korea to send weapons to Russia, considering its However, if the deployment of North Korean forces could increase China’s concerns about growing Russian influence in East Asia, at charge of “Land of the Dragon.”

In another context, the United States this month imposed sanctions on Chinese companies that cooperated with Russia to use drones against Ukraine, which will increase economic pressure on it China, amid serious international concerns about the Russian-North Korean alliance.

Bruce Klinger, a researcher at the Heritage Foundation for North Asian Studies, said that China “may not see much benefit in forming a formal tripartite alliance with Russia and North Korea, because that could open to sanctions that could affect its economy. “