Pyongyang: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to Pyongyang on Thursday on a historic visit to burnish an uneasy alliance, with the two men each facing challenges of their own with US President Donald Trump.
Xi is the first Chinese president to visit North Korea in 14 years, after relations between the Cold War era allies deteriorated over Pyongyang’s nuclear provocations and Beijing’s subsequent backing of UN sanctions.
But as he embarked on a flurry of diplomacy last year, Kim ensured that Xi — the leader of his country’s key diplomatic supporter and main provider of trade and aid — was the first head of state he met.
The North Korean has now visited his older ally four times in China and Pyongyang has been increasingly keen for Xi to reciprocate, while according to diplomats Beijing has been biding its time to see how nuclear talks between Kim and Trump play out.
But Beijing’s own trade negotiations with Washington hit a wall last month and some analysts say Xi is now looking for leverage ahead of his meeting with Trump at next week’s G20 summit in Japan.
“When both China & North Korea are confronted by US, they have a lot to discuss with each other,” Lijian Zhao, the deputy chief of mission of China’s embassy in Pakistan, wrote on Twitter.
Kim met Xi at Pyongyang airport as he began a two-day state visit with his wife Peng Liyuan, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and other officials, according to Chinese state media.
Portraits of the two leaders stood outside the terminal, pictures showed, and a 21-gun salute was fired.
Chinese flags hung throughout the capital and hundreds of thousands of residents were lined up along the streets according to CCTV — standard procedure when a foreign leader visits the isolated North, whose authorities are adept at mounting spectacular displays.
Kim and Xi went on to hold formal talks, Xinhua reported.
Authorities imposed tight restrictions on coverage.
International journalists in Pyongyang were told they would not be able to cover it, while foreign media organisations initially invited to attend proved unable to secure visas.
Sources said the Chinese media delegation accompanying Xi was also reduced in size from initial plans.
The North wants to demonstrate to Trump that it has China’s support with nuclear negotiations at a standstill after Trump and Kim’s second summit broke up without a deal.
In Hanoi in February the two men disagreed in February on what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in exchange for sanctions relief. (pti)
