Chinese President Xi Jinping has wrapped up a two-day visit to Pyongyang, his first official trip to North Korea since 2019.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pulled out all the stops for Xi when he arrived on Monday, from a red-carpet welcome to elaborate acrobatic performances.
While no concrete deals emerged from the trip, its significance was recognised by Kim, who said that Xi’s choice of Pyongyang for his first state visit of the year showed the “utmost importance” placed on bilateral ties, said a report by state news outlet KCNA.
The trip also comes as Beijing is trying to reassert sway over its strategically vital yet deeply unpredictable partner that has drawn closer to Russia.
For Kim, he will feel such that having such a VIP on his doorstep, just a few weeks after Xi has held meetings with US leader Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will show that he has important friends despite continued international sanctions.
KCNAAt an evening banquet on Monday, Xi praised relations between both countries, saying that China and North Korea are “linked by mountains and rivers and share a common destiny”, state outlet Xinhua reported.
Kim echoed this, saying that North Korea would continue to uphold its friendship with China as a top priority and reaffirmed his support for Beijing’s “One China” principle.
The visit is a reminder of the strength of their friendship, even amid “upheaval in international affairs”, Kim was reported as saying.
Xi added that he had reached an “important consensus” with Kim to “grasp the trend of the times” and deepen both high-level exchanges and people-to-people bonds.
The two leaders also noted that this year marks the 65th anniversary of China and North Korea’s defence pact – the only one China has with any country.
China is North Korea’s most important political and economic partner, and a lifeline in the face of heavy international sanctions over its nuclear weapons programme.
But despite North Korea’s reliance on China and its position as a junior partner in the alliance, this week Kim appeared to get his way on at least one key issue.
Discussions about North Korea’s denuclearisation were notably absent from state media readouts of Monday’s talks – though this does not come as a surprise.
In recent years, China has significantly toned down its calls to denuclearise the Korean peninsula and avoided mentioning it publicly.
Xi was accompanied on the trip by some of the most important people in his government, including his de facto chief of staff Cai Qi, defence minister Dong Jun, foreign minister Wang Yi and commerce minister Wang Wentao.
On Tuesday, both leaders paid a visit to the Friendship Tower, which commemorates Chinese soldiers who fought in the Korean war. They also dropped by Pyongyang’s top cadre school, where they planted a fir tree symbolising their evergreen friendship, Xinhua reported.
During his stay in Pyongyang, Xi was hosted at the Kumsusan State Guest House, an exclusive residence in the heart of Pyongyang.
Reportedly built in 2019 to welcome Xi for his first-ever state visit to Pyongyang that year, the guest house has hosted foreign leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko.
XinhuaThe lavish public displays however, have not managed to conceal all the differences between China and North Korea.
In his speech, Xi said he hoped the visit would “jointly open up a brighter future for the socialist cause of both countries” – a sore point for China.
Beijing has long encouraged North Korea to pursue China’s own model of Communist leadership: maintaining a one party rule while expanding markets, foreign investment and international trade.
And “elements in the Chinese reports suggest that President Xi may be frustrated”, said Sydney Seiler, CSIS Korea Chair on social media platform X.
Kim does not mention any process to develop and “North Korea still refuses to learn from China’s developmental experience”, he said.
