China’s silence on North Korea’s nuclear weapons: A shift in strategy?

China may be downplaying nuclear weapons by not mentioning the issue after President Xi Jinping’s visit to North Korea, but that does not mean Beijing has accepted its neighbor’s growing arsenal, according to analysts. Neither Beijing nor Pyongyang mentioned nuclear weapons or denuclearization in their official statements on Xi’s two-day state visit to Pyongyang this week. Since Xi’s summit with US President Donald Trump in May, observers have been speculating that Beijing’s stance on Pyongyang’s nuclear program may be softening. However, experts argue that the absence of public discussion does not signal approval, but rather a tactical silence.