The Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung reports that Kim Jong Il supposedly paid China a secret visit. This information in turn is based on a report in the American magazine "Strategic Forecasts," which may be referring to Stratfor, but I'm not sure of that. The information is based on sources in Russian intelligence. There's not much information in the newspaper article, except that Kim is alleged to have made this secret trip a few days after the war in Iraq started. He met with new dictator Hu Jintao in Beijing, who is said to have assured Kim that China would not remain passive should relations with the US deteriorate further.

There's not too much concrete information here to go on, and the commitment of the Chinese to defend Kim Jong Il stands in contrast with reports that the Chinese cut off the oil pipeline to North Korea late last month. This would have been shortly after Kim supposedly visited Beijing. Coincidence? I hope not. It might be a sign that the Chinese leadership is coming to realize that having a lunatic egomaniac dictator with nuclear weapons and long-range missiles as a neighbor is not exactly a good idea.

My speculation is that Kim did go to Beijing and scared the hell out of Hu Jintao, who realized what a nutcase Kim is. The shutdown of the oil pipeline was Hu's reaction. Let's hope this marks a new beginning of Chinese realism in dealing with Kim Jong Il.