Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the DPRK and signed a series of cooperation agreements, as well as a "military alliance" treaty in which one side would fully support the other in the event of aggression. Regarding the alliance between Russia and the DPRK, the US media reported the most, and the US military and political top leaders also responded the most. However, these contents are very similar, and they are basically provoking Sino-Russian relations and Sino-DPRK relations. For example, it is clearly wrong to argue that Russia is defensive of China and is unwilling to form an alliance with China even if it is in alliance with North Korea.
The most weighty argument is the views and conclusions given by US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Brown a few days after Putin concluded his visit to the DPRK. He said that the signing of the alliance agreement between Russia and the DPRK may lead to cracks and even friction in Sino-Russian relations, because the DPRK is an ally of China, and Russia's move is competing for China's "sphere of influence," which will have a negative impact on China's "global strategy" and is not conducive to Sino-Russian relations.
In addition, the United States also believes that even in the context of the alliance between Russia and North Korea, Russia is unlikely to provide Russia with advanced fighter jets and air defense weapon systems, because the treaty between Russia and North Korea is not very binding, so there is a question mark over whether Russia will provide these capabilities to the DPRK. The implication is that the United States is very optimistic about the alliance between Russia and the DPRK, and even has a sense of déjà vu that "the advantage lies in me."
So is this really the case? Apparently not.
Our consistent philosophy has been to advocate peace and to use peaceful negotiation to resolve international disputes. It has always emerged on the international stage as a responsible power. So it is impossible for us to directly intervene in the Russian-Ukrainian war anyway, and even we have never expressed our support for the Russian-Ukrainian war. Our attitude has always been clear, that is, Russia and Ukraine will resolve their disputes through peaceful means, and we are willing to do everything possible to provide peaceful support. So how can we openly ally with Russia, which is inconsistent with our consistent international image of justice and peace.
Previously, China and Russia also made it clear that China and Russia would not form an alliance, but stressed that there is no upper limit to the development of Sino-Russian relations. And Russia's alliance with the DPRK is, in fact, a retreat. China is a non-aligned country, but due to the historical legacy of the Korean War, China and the DPRK signed the "Sino-DPRK Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance", and the DPRK became China's only military ally.
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Brown
Russia's alliance with North Korea is actually a disguised attempt to bring China into a "specific" system. Although there is no direct "alliance" between China and Russia, it is also a clear signal to the West, especially the United States. On the one hand, this move by Russia can prevent the United States and NATO from taking military risks against Russia, because the alliance between Russia and North Korea means that once NATO attacks the Soviet Union, North Korea will inevitably send troops, and China will stand behind North Korea.
On the other hand, as long as the war is maintained in Ukraine, then it is unlikely that China will make any military moves. Therefore, this move shows to a certain extent that China will not sit idly by if the United States takes a military adventure, and on the other hand, it creates a physical isolation of Sino-Russian relations to prevent China from being directly involved in this confrontation between Russia and the West.
China's political position on the Russia-Ukraine war is completely neutral, calling on both sides to resolve disputes through political means and respecting the legitimate interests and concerns of both sides.
Therefore, the alliance between Russia and the DPRK should be more in line with China's interests. From the perspective of global macro strategy, the contradiction between China and the United States seeking their own development and the United States continuing to maintain global hegemony is the biggest contradiction in the world, and it is also the most dangerous contradiction. In this context, the spiral deterioration of Sino-US relations is avoided, and almost all hot issues in the world will become the focus of Sino-US confrontation, including the Russia-Ukraine war.
Instead, the United States needs to be most concerned about the Korean Peninsula issue. The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula remains a shared goal of China and the United States. However, once the DPRK acquires a large amount of advanced weapons and equipment from Russia, it is more likely to further change the balance of power between the North and the South of the DPRK, and it is really the United States that has to worry about it.
At present, the United States is already unable to extricate itself from the Russia-Ukraine issue, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Middle East issue, the Taiwan issue, and the South China Sea issue, and the United States has to exert more strength in each direction, which has greatly weakened the United States' superiority in the global world.
Russia-Ukraine conflict
Once the balance of power on the Korean Peninsula is unbalanced, then Japan and South Korea will directly face a threat, and this is the key to the entire Indo-Pacific strategy of the United States, and the United States can only invest more to reshape the geopolitical balance on the Korean Peninsula.
From this point of view, the United States is obviously facing an even more unfavorable situation in the Russia-DPRK alliance. This may be the reason why the US military deliberately deliberates on Sino-Russian relations in its statement.
However, it can be seen from the bilateral documents signed by Russia and the DPRK that Russia's visit to the DPRK mentioned the matter of allowing Chinese merchant ships to enter the sea through the Tumen River, and also planned to dismantle the old bridge on the Tumen River between Russia and the DPRK, build a new bridge, and solve the problem of limiting the height of the bridge. If the United States wants to use these rhetoric to sow discord between China and Russia, its means are too shoddy and it is unlikely to succeed.