While the relationship between North Korea and China has often been described as “as close as lips and teeth,” in recent years a greater number of Chinese officials and scholars have begun to consider North Korea more like a liability than a friend.

So what is China’s foreign policy toward North Korea at the present time, and how has that changed under President Xi Jinping and his predecessors? 

Assessing 20 years of Chinese foreign ministry press conferences suggests that whatever murmurings about a North Korean albatross may be out there, the ministry appears consistently accommodating