Editor’s note: This analysis is part of a three-part series on China-North Korea relations in 2020. See part two here and part three here.

Xi Jinping was the first leader Kim Jong Un met at the outset of North Korea’s global diplomatic drive of 2018. Having now met five times, evidence strongly suggests that relations with Beijing have become Kim’s most important foreign policy priority in the years since. That’s because the evolving relationship has yielded a range of benefits for the two leaders over the last 18 months that are unlikely to be surpassed by