China Puts Up With North Korea to Keep U.S. Troops From Its Border
A long-delayed bridge shows how Beijing is trying to pull Pyongyang closer as North Korea grows closer to Russia.
Global News Podcast · Zelensky feels 'betrayed' by TrumpChina is often described as North Korea's closest friend, even its brother. Stephen McDonell, the BBC's Beijing correspondent, says officials still talk up the relationship and say they "fought side by side in the Korean War."
In practice, McDonell says, the relationship has been strained for decades. China is annoyed by North Korea's eccentric and extreme policies, sees the country as destabilizing the region, and has opposed its development of nuclear arms and other weapons.
In McDonell's account, "really what China gets is a buffer state" that keeps U.S. troops off its border. North Korea sits between China and South Korea, where U.S. troops are stationed. If North and South Korea ever united under the South, those American forces could end up right on China's border.
That is why Beijing, in McDonell's words, "puts up with an awful lot of nonsense" just to keep that buffer, and to keep U.S. troops away.
The newly opened Yalu River Bridge is a visible sign of that calculation. The four-lane road bridge was on hold for more than a decade, and has finally opened as a symbol that relations are improving. It will mostly carry freight, not passenger cars, part of a fresh effort to expand trade even though North Korea remains wary of becoming too economically dependent on its powerful neighbor.
As for why now, McDonell frames it this way: some would say "it's all summed up in one word, which is Russia." North Korea has grown closer to Russia during the war in Ukraine, even sending troops to join the fighting. McDonell says China looked at that growing closeness and thought it needed to ramp its relations with Pyongyang back up, and finishing the bridge project could serve as a symbolic image that relations are improving.
Questions people ask
Why are U.S. troops in South Korea?
The United States has kept forces in South Korea since the Korean War of 1950 to 1953, which ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty. About 28,500 American troops are normally stationed there to deter an attack from North Korea and to reassure South Korea and Japan. Their presence is also part of a wider U.S. military footprint in Asia.
Why does China oppose North Korea having nuclear weapons?
China has long said it wants a Korean Peninsula without nuclear weapons, partly because it fears a regional arms race involving South Korea and Japan. It also worries that North Korean tests could cause instability, accidents, or a crisis on its border. At the same time, Beijing has been reluctant to pressure Pyongyang so hard that the North Korean government collapses.
How close have North Korea and Russia become?
Russia and North Korea signed a mutual defense pact in 2024 and have expanded military cooperation during Russia's war in Ukraine. North Korea has supplied Russia with artillery shells and ballistic missiles, according to the United States, South Korea, and Ukraine. It has also sent thousands of soldiers to fight alongside Russian forces, reportedly suffering heavy casualties.