Xi-Kim summit rebalancing chessboard?

The lavish welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping received on his recent visit to North Korea stylistically underscored a deep and comradely relationship between the two communist regimes. Xi’s trip to Pyongyang, his first visit in seven years to the secluded socialist state, was nonetheless more about reviving and rebalancing ties with the dictator Kim Jong-un than about political substance. Xi as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, lavished praise on North Korea, a neighboring state sharing many of China’s cultural traditions. State media reported that both are “socialist countries led by communist parties with traditional friendship, rooted in their shared ideals and beliefs as well as their common goals, and backed by a profound historical foundation, a solid political basis, and strong emotional bonds.” During the 1950-53 Korean War for example, newly founded People’s Republic of China sent hundreds of thousands of “volunteers” to aid North Korea’s attack on South Korea. The Chinese communist forces sustained huge losses in helping their North Korean co