On November 20, Xi Jinping’s envoy Song Tao returned from a trip to North Korea. While the visit was framed as being strictly about party business – Song was due to brief Workers’ Party officials on the recent Communist Party of China National Congress  – all eyes were on whether Song would meet with Kim Jong Un.

He didn’t, and just nine days later North Korea test-launched the Hwasong-15, a new missile which, it claims, can strike the entire U.S. with a nuclear weapon. The timing was not lost on U.S. President Trump, who tweeted: “the Chinese Envoy, who