In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, CNN military analyst Cedric Leighton stated that Beijing’s current tactics, attempting to please both the US and North Korea, is not a long-term strategy.

He said: “I think that those tactics are at some point doomed to failure because one side or the other is going to do something that makes the current Chinese position untenable but until that time they will play it as best as they can.

“They will try to placate both sides, they will try to placate Trump on one side by being seen to be doing something and then do just enough to make that work.

“But then, on the other hand, they will also be there to prop up the North Korean’s and make sure that they don’t fall down as a stack of dominoes would and that makes it difficult for them to do this in the long term.”

Mr Leighton believes an increased provocation from Kim Jong-un could be the last straw with Beijing that could force Xi Jinping to alter the county’s long standing rhetoric against Pyongyang.

He added: “I think the one thing that could change the Chinese position would be if something happened where the North Korean’s fired an active missile on a target and it actually exploded.

“I think that would make the Chinese position untenable.

“That could also make it very difficult for the Chinese to try to please both sides because they also have the vital interests of keeping its trading relationship with the United States alive and if something like that were to happen the potential economic dislocations would really hurt the Chinese and in the end economic self-interest will decide the fate of any North Korean policy the Chinese have.”

When questioned on who Xi Jinping would side with if his hand was forced, the military analyst disclosed that China would “reluctantly” keep its alliance with the US.

He stated: “It would be a very rocky decision road for them to take because they have that historical connection to North Korea.

“They have a previous ideological connection and for them the fact that they were able to fight US and UN forces to more or less a stalemate on the Korean peninsula during the Korean War is a point of some degree of pride and they see that as being able to secure their country from possible threats from the United States or other places.

“But I think reluctantly they would choose the route of actually being able to stay on the US side but it would be a very hard decision to make.”

Mr Leighton elaborated that China has a limit to its aggressive rhetoric against North Korea due to fears of a refugee crisis if the Kim regime were to implode.

He went on: “China is trying hard to exercise what leverage they can over North Korean’s, but they want to make sure that they don’t set up conditions that would allow for the collapse of the North Korean regime.

“They don’t want the refugees to come in, they don’t want the economic dislocation and they certainly don’t want a powerful unified Korea on their border.”

Donald Trump spoke to Xi Jinping following the hermit kingdom’s most powerful missile test this week in the hopes of pushing Beijing to harden its stance against despot leader Kim Jong-un, however, Mr Leighton believes the Republican firebrand’s efforts are in vain as China will “only work in their interests”.

He declared: “The fact that President Trump and President Xi spoke on Thursday was probably indicative of an effort by the United States to try to get the Chinese to harden their stance against the North Korean’s.

“But we will have to remember that the Chinese will only work if it is in their interests to basically make things harder for the North Korean’s and right now they are not happy with the North Korean’s but they don’t think they can pressure them too much because they also do not want the regime to implode from within.

“That is also a prime consideration so they are trying to placate the United States, they want to be seen to be doing something, especially by President Trump, but they also don’t want to press too hard for fear of destabilising the regime in Pyongyang.”

Images of North Korea’s latest missile test were released last night - despot leader Kim Jong-un can be seen watching the deadly projectile as it entered the stratosphere before plunging into the Sea of Japan.