South Korean media recently reported that Chinese security and protocol personnel have already arrived in Pyongyang to make preparations, and that Chinese President Xi Jinping may visit North Korea in late May or early June. China hasn’t yet confirmed the trip, but a visit is both overdue and, from Xi’s perspective, necessary. As close as Beijing and Pyongyang are on paper, relations between the two behind the scenes are often tense; China has never quite accepted North Korea’s status as a