Across the long arc of great-power diplomacy, silence from Pyongyang has once again forced Washington to look toward Beijing. President Trump's direct overtures to Kim Jong-un have gone unanswered, and with China's Xi Jinping set to visit Washington next week, the administration is weighing whether the oldest of diplomatic tools — the intermediary — might unlock what direct appeals could not. The moment reflects a durable truth: in the architecture of Northeast Asian security, no path to Pyongyang runs cleanly through Washington alone.