Well, that didn’t take too long. For those who might not be familiar with the key issue in the breakdown of prior six-party talks (China, Russia, DPRK, S-Korea, Japan and U.S.), the issue was “denuclearization”.

Both China and Russia have just announced a shift in their public policy. Together Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin agree the goal for the Korean Peninsular should be denuclearization:

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed Sunday to “appropriately deal with” the latest nuclear test by North Korea, state news agency Xinhua said. “The two leaders agreed to stick to the goal of denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula and keep close communication and coordination to deal with the new situation,” Xinhua said in a brief dispatch.

The two were meeting on the sidelines of a summit of the BRICS group of nations in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen. (link)

The objective of “denuclearization” sets the stage for five members of the group to have a common objective for “six party talks”.

As we have outlined numerous times when China actually calls for the six party talks to begin – it is essentially the geopolitical indicator they are conceding to the economics of the U.S. position.

Everything between now and that moment is chaff and countermeasures.

President Xi Jinping and President Putin are making these remarks today at the BRICS Summit. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are the BRICS group:

President Trump’s ever increasingly warm relationship with Prime Minister Modi of India is both leverage for Trump and a risk for Xi Jinping and Putin.

Our president has made it publicly obvious the Trump administration views India as a replacement ally for retracted economic engagement with China. We are also supporting India’s objectives and investments in Afghanistan.

Things are going swimmingly.