Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Seoul this week has put North Korea in a difficult spot when it comes to ties with its two neighbours.
Traditionally, Chinese heads of state have always visited Pyongyang before going to Seoul.
For the first time since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Seoul and Beijing in 1992, a Chinese leader has broken with this custom and visited Seoul first.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meanwhile is still waiting for an invitation to Beijing from Chinese President Xi Jinping, an indication of how Beijing has distanced itself from Pyongyang in recent years.
The timing of Xi’s visit to Seoul is perhaps not so surprising given the apparent strength of relations between him and South Korean President Park Geun Hye.
It is the fifth time they have met since her appointment as South Korea’s head of state in February 2013.
China is South Korea’s largest trading partner, and both countries are expected to speed up talks on a free trade deal.
South Korean analysts see Pyongyang’s displeasure at Xi’s visit in test-firings from the North earlier this week.
North Korea has test-fired dozens of rockets in recent months, with the latest being two short-range missiles fired into the East Sea, or Sea of Japan, early Wednesday.
The South Korean and Chinese leaders also issued a joint statement on the key issue of the North’s nuclear programme.
They reaffirmed their goal of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, and urged a return to multilateral talks on the issue. Park told reporters that Xi’s visit was a clear sign he wants North Korea to put a stop to its nuclear programme.
But the issue is still a complicated one for the North’s two neighbours.
Experts agree that it is unlikely Beijing will completely sever its relations with North Korea.
China still refrains from explicitly naming North Korea in statements about denuclearisation, sticking to the phrase “the Korean Peninsula”.
“The lingering North Korean nuclear issue is a volatile factor that presents the risk of conflicting strategic security interests between the two countries,” writes Chung Jae Hung, a South Korean expert from the Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES).
“We need to get China to take concrete steps by making it clear that Seoul-Beijing relations cannot progress without a resolution to the North Korean nuclear crisis,” Chung said, according to the Chosun Ilbo newspaper.
Recent reports have stated that China is preparing for a collapse of the North Korean regime. Such a collapse would nonetheless pose a risk for China, as Korean reunification could mean the presence of US troops up to the Chinese border.