The Financial Times on April   reported that China virtually halted exports of petroleum products, coal and other key materials to North Korea in the months leading to this week’s unprecedented summit between Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. It said the export freeze — revealed in official Chinese data and going much further than the limits stipulated under UN sanctions — shows the extent of Chinese pressure following the ramping up of Pyongyang’s nuclear testing programme. FT said it suggested that behind Xi Jinping's talk this week of a “profound revolutionary friendship” between the two nations, China has been playing hard ball with its neighbour. Official Chinese statistics show that the monthly average of refined petroleum exports to North Korea in January and February was 175.2 tons, just 1.3 per cent of the monthly average of 13,552.6 tons shipped in the first half of 2017. The level of reduction went far beyond the 89 per cent cut in petroleum product exports stipulated by the UN sanctions. Chinese coal exports to North Korea were also cut to zero in the three months to the end of February, after running at a monthly average of 8,627 tons in the first half of 2017. Exports of steel ran at a monthly average of 257 tons in the first two months of this year, down from a monthly average of 15,110 tons in the first half of 2017. Shipments of motor vehicles also dried up, with just one unit being exported in the month of February, official Chinese statistics show. Concerns over the accuracy of China’s statistics are common, but analysts said that such consistent and bold drops in export volumes are unlikely to have been the result of official massaging.

(Comment: Since North Korea tested its nuclear weapon in September, it has launched a highly unusual series of diplomatic initiatives. Kim Jung Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jung, was dispatched to the Winter Olympics held in

South Korea in February. Kim Jung Un then invited Donald Trump to a summit — an offer that the US president accepted. Following the visit to Beijing this week, North and South Korea announced a historic summit scheduled for later this month.)