North Korea slams Blinken's recent China visit as 'begging trip'

North Korea has ridiculed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's recent visit to China as a "disgraceful begging trip," further slamming it as a failure of policy aimed at exerting pressure on Beijing.

The rare visit was aimed at begging for the relaxation of tensions as the "attempt to press and restrain China may become a boomerang striking a fatal blow to the US economy," said North Korean international affairs analyst Jong Yong in a column published by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Wednesday.

"In a word, the US state secretary's recent junket can never be judged otherwise than a disgraceful begging trip of the provoker admitting the failure of the policy of putting pressure on China," he then added.

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The analyst further blamed Washington for escalating regional tensions with "anti-China complexes" such as the so-called Quad strategic security group, which includes Japan, Australia, India, and the United States, as well as the Australia-UK-US security deal known as AUKUS.  

"It is the height of the double-dealing and impudence peculiar to the US to provoke first and then talk about the so-called 'responsible control over divergence of opinion,'" he said.

Blinken arrived in Beijing on Sunday on a high-stakes diplomatic mission in a bid to ease deteriorating tensions between the world’s two largest economies amid little hope for much progress in the talks.

During his two-day visit, Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying they had agreed to stabilize their intense rivalry so it did not veer into conflict.

US plays down chance of breakthrough from Blinken’s China visit

The United States has played down chances of any breakthrough from the first trip by a US Secretary of State to China in five years.

Biden calls China’s Xi ‘dictator’

However, a day after the top American diplomat visited China to purportedly ease tensions, US President Joe Biden likened his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping with “dictators.”

Speaking at a Democratic Party fundraiser in northern California, Biden claimed Xi had been angered over an incident in February when a Chinese balloon flew over the United States and eventually shot down with Washington claiming – despite Beijing’s denials – that it was used for spying.

 “The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment is he didn’t know it was there,” Biden proclaimed.

“That’s a great embarrassment for dictators," he then emphasized. "When they didn’t know what happened. That wasn’t supposed to be going where it was. It was blown off course.”

Blinken also stated at the conclusion of his visit that he had called on China to urge North Korea to stop launching missiles as Beijing holds a "unique position" to press Pyongyang to engage in dialogue.

North Korea is reeling under harsh US-led sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, which have not prevented it from developing its military capabilities as a deterrent against persisting war games near its waters by US and South Korean military forces that Pyongyang regards as rehearsals for invading the country.

The North has further underlined that it will continue responding to joint military maneuvers of its adversaries by holding its own drills as well as developing all sorts of weaponry, including long-range missiles.

Prior to his visit to Beijing, Blinken had said the trip aims to establish communication channels to avoid the ongoing rivalry between the two nations to spiral into a military conflict.

He said to avoid a conflict with China they should start with “communicating.”  

Blinken was the highest-ranking US official to visit China since Joe Biden became president in 2021.

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