JAPAN PERSPECTIVE

Tokyo reads the summit in reverse: it is not what Xi and Kim said that matters, but what they left unsaid. 'What was left unsaid may be the biggest takeaway from the Xi-Kim summit,' the Japanese press sums up, noting that North Korean readouts of the talks 'made no mention of Pyongyang's nuclear program.' For Tokyo, that absence is no oversight: it 'reinforces the perception that China no longer views denuclearization as a viable option.' The Japanese angle is openly security-focused. The government has gone 'on alert over closer China-North Korea military ties after Xi's visit,' and is 'scrambling to collect and analyze intelligence on possible discussions regarding North Korea's nuclear weapons development.' The Japanese press recalls the context that makes Japan nervous: two 'blood brothers' since the Korean War, who fought together against US-led UN forces, reaffirming a 'friendship to be carried from generation to generation.' For the archipelago, within range of North Korean missiles, a strengthened Beijing-Pyongyang axis while Kim 'also pivots toward Moscow' sketches the most adverse strategic environment in decades.