After 24 years, Putin is visiting North Korea again, does this move mean the formation of a new alliance?
Why did the United States and South Korea react so strongly? What are the deep-seated intentions implied by Putin's visit to North Korea?
On June 17, the Russian side suddenly announced that President Vladimir Putin would arrive in the DPRK the next day for a state visit. The visit comes exactly 24 years after Putin's last trip to North Korea.
South Korean intelligence agencies are concerned about this, speculating that Putin's trip could lead to closer military cooperation with North Korea and even a new agreement similar to the 1961 Soviet-North Korean Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance.
On the eve of his visit, Putin signed a resolution agreeing to sign the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty with North Korea, which seems to confirm the predictions of the South Korean side.
After concluding his visit to North Korea, Putin moved to Vietnam on June 19. Vietnam, as a traditional friendly country of Russia, attaches great importance to Putin's visit.
Vietnamese party and government leaders will meet with Putin, and the two sides plan to further deepen cooperation in the economic and trade fields. However, this move has caused strong dissatisfaction in the United States.
The U.S. consulate in Hanoi issued a public statement accusing Vietnam of providing Putin with a platform to "propagate war," claiming that the move "violated international law."
The fierce reaction of the United States reflected their frustration with the failure of Vietnam's co-optation plan. At the end of last year, U.S. President Joe Biden personally visited Vietnam, elevating U.S.-Vietnam relations to the level of a "comprehensive strategic partnership" and planning to support Vietnam as a new "global manufacturing center" to replace China.
Today, seeing Vietnam's warm reception of Russia's Putin, the United States is naturally displeased.
So, is Putin really seeking a new alliance partner during his visit to North Korea and Vietnam? To answer this question, we need to analyze Putin's visits to North Korea and Vietnam separately.
North Korea was an ally of Russia, but relations between the two countries were unstable during the Soviet era.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, North Korea's agricultural mechanization collapsed due to the loss of price concessions for oil and fertilizer, and the food problem was acute.
During Putin's more than 20 years in power, he visited China frequently, traveling to Beijing several times a year on average.
However, during this period, he visited North Korea only twice, which shows that Putin did not attach much importance to North Korea in the past.
However, with the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Russia facing extreme sanctions from the United States and the West, Russia urgently needs to expand its international influence and find new breakthroughs.
At the same time, North Korea also wants military and space technology support from Russia to counter the ongoing pressure from the United States and South Korea.
In particular, after the Yoon Suk-yeol government in South Korea came to power, it regarded North Korea as an "enemy" and actively cooperated with the United States' strategic deployment in Northeast Asia. Against this background, the cooperation between Russia and the DPRK naturally came naturally.
In addition, Russia has another important purpose in strengthening relations with the DPRK, that is, to avoid falling into a situation where it is surrounded by enemies.
If there is a problem with North Korea, the Russian Far East will be directly exposed to the threat of the United States and the West. Therefore, Putin must take precautions and be prepared for all possible responses.
Judging from some of Moscow's statements, it seems that they are interested in building a "China-Russia-North Korea triangle" framework to better deal with the US-Japan-South Korea alliance established by the United States in Northeast Asia.
This is also one of the important reasons why Putin signed the "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty" with the DPRK this time.
On the other hand, during his visit to China, Putin has already reached a consensus with China on the issue of the Tumen estuary. Therefore, during his visit to the DPRK, he is bound to have in-depth discussions with the DPRK side on this issue.
The Tumen estuary is strategically important for Northeast China, as it will not only provide a second outlet to the sea, but also provide a deep-water ice-free port in the nearby bay.
This is of great significance to China, Russia and North Korea, and is expected to promote the economic development of the three countries.
It is worth noting that after Putin's visit to the DPRK, the South Korean side took the initiative to engage with China and held the first round of diplomatic and security dialogues between China and the ROK.
Some South Korean media speculated that South Korea would use the opportunity of this dialogue to lobby China on the Korean Peninsula issue.
However, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry made it clear that the dialogue between China and South Korea is based on the needs of the development of bilateral relations and has no special relevance to other countries.
This means that cooperation between Russia and North Korea is not subject to China's interference or influence.
Unlike North Korea, Vietnam maintains traditionally friendly relations with Russia, but its decision-makers adhere to the principle of "bamboo diplomacy," that is, not to take sides in any great power game.
At present, Vietnam maintains close economic and trade ties with China, Russia and the United States.
In the first 10 months of 2023, the total trade between China and Vietnam exceeded $185.1 billion, while the total trade between the United States and Vietnam was $128.71 billion. In addition, 93% of Vietnam's armaments currently come from Russia.
Therefore, Putin's visit to Vietnam is expected to focus on economic and trade issues.
However, in order to contain China, the United States has been actively courting China's neighboring countries, among which Vietnam and the Philippines are key targets of Washington.
But apparently, the United States has not been able to shake the relations between China and Vietnam, and now that Vietnam has taken the initiative to interact with Russia, it is clear that the United States' plan to win over it has failed.
The fact that the U.S. obstruction has been ineffective further highlights the declining trend of Western hegemony. At the same time, the integration of the Eurasian continent has become the trend of the times, and the concept of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation has become the consensus of most countries.
As the cooperative relations between various countries continue to deepen, the US camp that pursues hegemonism will face greater challenges. What the authorities in Washington feared most is happening.