Yet as Kim prepares to finally meet Trump in Singapore on Tuesday, some analysts say Beijing appears to be getting a sudden case of the jitters.

They say the Chinese leaders, who are unused to being on the outside looking in, are growing anxious about whether they can keep their Cold War-era ally firmly in its current orbit around China. Leaders in Beijing are worried, experts say, that Kim might try to counterbalance China‘s influence by embracing the United States, North Korea‘s longtime enemy.