Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- March 28, 2018

Chinese President Xi Jinping (2nd right) and wife Peng Liyuan (right) are seen with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol Ju in Beijing on March 27. The North Korean leader received a warm welcome during a secretive trip as both sides sought to repair frayed ties ahead of landmark summits with Seoul and Washington. Photo: AFP/ via North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency.

Andrew Salmon, Asia Times: Xi reasserts role in Korean game with summons to Kim

Kim Jong-un’s ‘surprise’ visit to Beijing was expected by experts as part of groundwork prior to critical summits

Chinese President Xi Jinping has placed himself back at the center of the game, as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s visit to Beijing adds yet another piece to the fast-shifting diplomatic chess board that is the Korean peninsula.

At a time when the youthful and diplomatically inexperienced Kim is preparing for separate summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump, the meeting appears to herald a warming in recently frosty relations between Beijing and Pyongyang.

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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- March 28, 2018

North Korea's Visit Proves That China Has Leverage -- Robert E Kelly, National Interest

U.S.–North Korea Summit: Can Trump Deliver? -- Andray Abrahamian, The Interpreter

Can Trump Strike a Deal with North Korea? -- Patrick M. Cronin, National Interest

What Trump Wants From North Korea -- Joseph Bosco, RCW

North and South Korea 'suspicious' of China -- Rodion Ebbighausen, DW

Key moments in North Korea-China relationship -- AP

Laos on a fast track to a China debt trap -- David Hutt, Asia times

Don't Blow Up The Iran Deal. Trump's Strategy Is Working. -- Eli Lake, Bloomberg

Turkey's Biggest National Security Threat Is Its Economy -- Scott B. MacDonald, National Interest

'Victory for Kremlin' as Germany approves gas pipeline -- Andrew Rettman, EU Observer

Kicking Out Russian Spies May Give US Intel Black Eye -- The Cipher Brief

Vladimir Putin's diplomatic catastrophe -- Konstantin Eggert, DW

Time to Rethink Deterring Russia? -- Rob Dannenberg, The Cipher Brief

Kosovo-Serbia Crisis Looks 'Arranged', Experts Say -- Sinisa Jakov Marusic, Balkan Insight

Is Gas Global Yet? -- Nikos Tsafos, RCW

The pessimists might be right, social media may have plunged us into a new dark age -- Andrew Coyne, National Post