When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rolled into the Vietnamese border station of Dong Dang early on Tuesday, his vaunted specialized train was pulled by a red-and-yellow locomotive emblazoned with China's national railway logo.
It was the second time Kim had arrived for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in transport provided by the Chinese, underscoring just how much the young leader's sudden flurry of international engagements has depended on his larger, more powerful neighbor.
When Kim arrived in Singapore last year for his first, historic summit with Trump, it was in an Air China jumbo jet bearing the Chinese flag.