North Korea and China open new bridge after 12-year delay
The opening of the road bridge, set to become a major trade route, was announced by Chinese state media.
North Korea and China open new bridge after 12-year delay
A road bridge that had been delayed for years and links China with North Korea has now opened, Chinese state media say, as trade relations between the two long-time allies quickly improve.
The New Yalu River Bridge stretches 3km (1.9 miles) from the Chinese border city of Dandong to Sinuiju in North Korea, and is expected to become the main overland trade route between the two countries.
The bridge was originally due to open in 2014, but the launch was postponed indefinitely after North Korea stopped work on its roads and customs facilities as ties with Beijing cooled.
Experts say the bridge opening on Thursday is likely to indicate a further revival in relations between Beijing and Pyongyang, although tensions still remain.
The New Yalu River Bridge offers an alternative to the decades-old Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, which was built between 1937 and 1943 during Imperial Japan's occupation of the region.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday that the New Yalu River Bridge is an "important facility for connectivity" between the two neighbours, adding that the new route would "further facilitate trade and people-to-people exchanges".
China is North Korea's biggest trading partner and a crucial lifeline against the severe international sanctions imposed over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.
Last year, trade between the two countries reached $2.7bn, returning to pre-pandemic levels, although this was driven mainly by Chinese exports to North Korea.
Kang Jun-young, a professor of Chinese studies at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, told the BBC that a sharp and sudden rise in cross-border trade is "unlikely" while UN sanctions on North Korea remain in place.
"Pyongyang is also wary of a sudden flood of Chinese imports that would greatly expand China's influence over its domestic market," he adds.
"China is well aware of these concerns, so trade is more likely to grow gradually."
Beijing and Pyongyang are long-time allies bound by a mutual defence treaty - the only one China has with any country - and their relationship has famously been described as "as close as lips and teeth".
Even so, the alliance has not been free of friction.
The two neighbours have only in recent years moved on from a period of chill that defined much of the 2010s, as Beijing's patience with Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme ran out.
The friendship began to warm again as China adopted a softer approach to North Korea's nuclear development.
"Whilst only a decade ago, Beijing was overtly critical of North Korea's nuclearisation - and indeed calling for Pyongyang's denuclearisation - China is now saying little, if anything, to this effect," Edward Howell, a lecturer at the University of Oxford, tells the BBC.
Air China restarted direct flights between Beijing and Pyongyang in March after a six-year suspension caused by the pandemic. Passenger train services between the two countries also resumed that same month.
At the same time, Beijing is watching carefully the growing friendship between Pyongyang and Moscow, which has expanded sharply since the Ukraine war began.
Last month, North Korea and Russia opened their first road bridge, which Russian state media said would permit the passage of up to 300 vehicles and more than 2,000 people each day.
The opening of the New Yalu River Bridge on Thursday comes as Beijing seeks to strengthen ties and reassert its influence over Pyongyang's unpredictable government.
Chinese President Xi Jinping's first state visit of this year, in June, was to Pyongyang, where he met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
"The opening of the New Yalu River Bridge demonstrates bilateral relations are improving and that Xi Jinping's June visit to North Korea was more than symbolic," says Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
"But the long delay, including North Korea's pandemic self-isolation and domestic socioeconomic crackdowns, shows what a difficult partner Pyongyang can be for Beijing."