Chinese leader Xi Jinping, arriving in North Korea on Monday, hailed the "invincible friendship" with Pyongyang. This is his first foreign trip this year after holding two consecutive summits in Beijing, UNN reports citing AFP.
Details
China, Washington's main geopolitical rival, has been North Korea's top trading partner for decades and a key source of diplomatic and economic support for the country, which has been hit by numerous international sanctions.
Military officers lined a red carpet as the Air China plane carrying Xi Jinping arrived for his first visit since 2019, as seen in footage from the Xinhua agency.
Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju greeted Xi Jinping, who was accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan.
The two leaders shook hands, and children presented flowers to Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan, while a banner reading "We sincerely welcome Comrade Xi Jinping" and praising the "unbreakable friendship" of the two countries hung under Chinese and North Korean flags.
As Bloomberg notes, the leaders headed to Kim Il Sung Square for an official welcome ceremony with a 21-gun salute. Xi reviewed a North Korean military guard of honor alongside Kim, as troops shouted wishes for the Chinese leader's health in Korean, Xinhua reports. Xi's delegation includes his top aide Cai Qi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Xi, as AFP points out, is making the trip after separately hosting U.S. President Donald Trump and Kremlin head Vladimir Putin in Beijing, and as North Korea's nuclear talks with Washington remain at a stalemate.
The White House said last month that Xi and Trump "reaffirmed their shared goal of the denuclearization of North Korea" during their summit in Beijing.
However, the influential sister of leader Kim Jong Un stated on the eve of Xi's arrival that North Korea's nuclear weapons program is a "line of no retreat."
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said on Monday that Seoul should not give up on the denuclearization of North Korea, adding that "North Korea is still producing nuclear material even at this very moment."
Minseon Ku, a professor of diplomacy at DePaul University, told AFP that "Beijing has likely recognized North Korea as a nuclear state," but Xi "will likely tell Kim that China wants stability above all else."
China "has always prioritized stability and now has to manage its relations and differences with the US," Ku said.
Seong-Hyon Lee, a visiting scholar at Harvard University's Asia Center, also stated that Beijing is moving toward "ensuring regime stability" rather than seeking to force North Korea into denuclearization.
"China's broader regional strategy benefits from a stable, well-armed, and aligned buffer state that absorbs the military capacity of the US and its allies," he told AFP.
North Korea has repeatedly declared itself an "irreversible" nuclear power since the collapse of the 2019 Kim-Trump summit over issues of denuclearization and sanctions relief.
South Korea and the US will be watching Xi's trip for any signs that China is shifting its long-standing position on a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, Bloomberg points out.
As AFP indicates, the war in Ukraine has also given Kim confidence, providing him with critical support from Moscow after sending troops to the front on the side of Russian forces.
Some analysts say the summit could be a way for Xi to counter Russia's growing influence over North Korea, but Ku emphasized that "overall, Moscow is not as great a power as China."
"The power relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang is more equal than between Beijing and Pyongyang; Moscow needs Kim for their war in Ukraine just as much as Kim needs technology and food exchanges from Russia," she said.
In an article published on the front page of the North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun, Xi pledged closer cooperation.
"No matter how times change or how the international situation evolves, the traditional friendship between China and North Korea is always invincible," Xi wrote.
Xi last met with Kim in September, when he invited the North Korean leader and Putin to a military parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Trump made little progress regarding North Korea, especially on the nuclear front, despite his previous high-profile summits with Kim Jong Un.
North Korea is also the only country that has a formal, binding military alliance with China.
Analysts say North Korea could also serve as a useful counterweight to US partners in the region, including South Korea and Japan.
Long-term Sino-Japanese relations deteriorated after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a security "hawk," suggested last year that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any Chinese attempt to seize self-governing Taiwan.
"With China's rising international profile, Beijing is likely seeking to more actively bring Pyongyang into its diplomatic orbit," said Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at Kyungnam University.
Xi Jinping to visit Kim Jong Un in North Korea for the first time since 201905.06.26, 15:23