China’s President Xi visits North Korea to talk nuclear programme
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Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Monday, June 8th, and this is your FT News Briefing. Israel and Iran trade fire in fresh escalation of the Middle East war, and China's president heads to North Korea today as Pyongyang ramps up its nuclear rhetoric. Plus, the head of the OECD is warning countries about implementing their own taxes on big multinationals.
If you start to see kind of fractured, fragmented approach, it could create more trade tensions. And so it could end up being bad for business and bad for trade and bad for everyone.
I'm Victoria Craig, and here's the news you need to start your day.
In the early hours of this morning, Israel said that its air force struck military targets in western and central Iran. The attack came hours after Iran launched multiple rounds of ballistic missiles at Israel. The exchange of fire is the most serious test so far of a fragile truce that went into effect between the two adversaries in April.
What recent events have escalated tensions between Israel and Iran?
The escalation began after Israel carried out a strike in Beirut on Sunday that it said targeted Iranian-aligned militant group Hezbollah. Iran's revolutionary guard earlier warned that if Israel retaliated, the country and its supporters will face more forceful and devastating attacks. U.S. President Donald Trump told the FT negotiations are still on track between the U.S. and Iran to extend a ceasefire between those two countries and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He also said Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have no choice but to accept whatever deal is hammered out.
China's President Xi Jinping is landing in North Korea today. It's his first visit to the country in almost seven years and comes just days after North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un reiterated a commitment to a, quote, exponential expansion of his nation's nuclear arsenal. China says the purpose of the trip is to advance ties and strengthen regional peace and stability. I'm joined now by our Beijing bureau chief, Joe Lay, to find out what we can expect from this visit. Hi, Joe.
Hi, Victoria.
So how are North Korea's nuclear ambitions likely to feature in discussions between these two leaders?
Yeah, I think they'll be an important part. Denuclearisation of North Korea has long been an ambition of China and, of course, of the US and other partners. But it hasn't gone that far, as we know, because Kim Jong-un has actually managed to develop a very impressive arsenal of weapons. But we think this will be discussed and we think this will be sort of a point of contention between them.
The UN has sanctioned North Korea for its nuclear program. I'm wondering, could China be in sort of a position to offer some kind of economic relief if it gets some assurances during this visit on that nuclear program?
Yeah, it's funny. I mean, ahead of the talks, as you mentioned, Kim has been really rattling the saver saying, there's no way I'm going to give up these weapons. So we wouldn't really expect perhaps much movement on this. But you know, what he might agree to do is just to ease things a little bit, maybe make a little less noise, maybe talk to his neighbours a little bit more, engage a bit more. And in return for that, China could offer some some benefits such as perhaps sending Chinese tourists to North Korea. That's something that it's a little bit unclear under the sanctions regime if that's allowed or not. So that's something that China could do for North Korea. And of course, you know, China already does do quite a lot for North Korea in terms of helping with its economy.
Now, this meeting comes just weeks after President Xi hosted both U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's leader Vladimir Putin for individual talks in China. You write that Kim Jong-un is skilled at playing its neighbors off of each other. What exactly does that mean? And what is it that North Korea is really angling for with this visit?
Yeah, I think with President Xi, he's probably looking for economic benefits. They have announced a new economic plan and a blueprint, and for that they need resources.
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