Will the proposed meeting between Trump and Kim be "possible progress" or "false hope"?

Has the U.S. position on how to deal with North Korea actually changed?

Any visitor to Dandong’s waterfront can tell that China offers a humanitarian and economic lifeline to DPRK. However, it is unclear to experts and laymen alike just how much political influence Beijing wields over Pyongyang, writes Indira P. Ravindran.

North Korea has never been an easy ally for the People’s Republic of China. With the execution of Jang Song-taek, Kim Jong-un’s uncle and supposed mentor, Beijing’s uncertain clout in Pyongyang is at risk.

As the United States and China have been working to build a new type of great power relationship, North Korean policy has often been a point of debate. Bonnie Glaser outlines the importance of Pyongyang to the strengthening of Sino-US relations.

The time has come for China to rebalance its traditional geostrategic interests with its new role as a global leader – and that means adopting a policy of disciplined engagement toward North Korea. Only then will an internationally coordinated response to the North's nuclear ambitions be possible.

One of the main breakthroughs from the informal summit between the leaders of China and the US was that Presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping did agree to work together on keeping North Korea in check and the Korean peninsula nuclear free, writes George Koo.

Despite a strenuous past between the U.S. and China regarding North Korea, recent months have shown a change from the Chinese government. As Chinese criticism of Pyongyang has come with other pressures from China, there may be reason for U.S. leaders to be optimistic about a partnership in the issue.

As Presidents Obama and Xi prepare for their upcoming meeting in California, Ren Xiao asks whether North Korea is an asset for China or a liability and claims that this continues to pose a fundamental question for Beijing.

While tensions on the Korean Peninsula have slowly began to dissipate, Nathan Beuchamp-Mustafaga delves into the complex issue of how China uses North Korea as leverage in the U.S.-China relationship and provides policy responses for the United States.