North Korea's troop deployment to Russia jeopardizes China's balancing act

China is skilled at playing this role” of ambiguity, “given its history of nonalignment, while knowing its economy relies on good trade relations with the U.S. and the EU,

said Joseph DeTrani, who served as the special envoy for six-party denuclearization talks that included North Korea and China, from 2003 to 2006.

Beijing currently finds itself in a tricky situation,

said Patricia Kim, a fellow at Brookings Institution where she leads the Global China Project

It is uncomfortable with North Korea’s growing military cooperation with Russia that has extended into the Ukrainian battlefield. Putin is now indebted to Kim, and this may embolden Pyongyang to engage in risky behavior at home that can have blowback effects on China,

she told VOA

China appears reluctant to use its limited leverage with North Korea due, in part, to the tension in the U.S.-China relations,

he said

At the same time, Beijing believes it cannot afford to alienate Pyongyang or Moscow, especially as the potential for a U.S.-China confrontation grows with [President-elect Donald Trump’s] return to office,

she said

Joe Bidenpresident

I urge us to keep the faith and keep going."

Biden, who has been using a valedictory tour of South America to tout his climate legacy, told his G20 counterparts

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silvapresident

We cannot leave the task of Baku until Belem,

Lula said Tuesday, referring to the Amazonian city that will host next year's UN climate talks

The head of state was discharged from hospital early in the morning," and was free to "continue his agenda,

the hospital said in a statement