Chinese President Xi Jinping began state visit to North Korea on Thursday, the first trip by a Chinese leader in 13 years. He was expected to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Thursday and today. Xi’s visit comes amid resumed tensions on the Korean peninsula—and the ongoing disputes between both leaders and US President Donald Trump.
The two leaders will likely discuss the security situation on the Korean peninsula as well as economic cooperation between North Korea and China, which enforces UN sanctions. North Korea’s sanctions-bound economy is suffering, and the country needs food aid amid a drought. The visit coincides with the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and North Korea.
“The [anniversary] is a reminder that they are historically allies, even though there’s deep animosity,” said Michael J. Green, the vice president for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Xi’s trip sends a signal—in the face of continued tariff threats from Trump—that China and the United States are not working together. “Chinese leaders are fed up with Donald Trump,” Green said.
That China would use Kim to antagonize the United States shows how politics have changed, Katie Stallard-Blanchette argues for FP. “Increasingly, Kim is someone the leaders of the major global powers want to show they have a relationship with, and perhaps some influence over, rather than going out of their way to avoid,” she writes. “North Korea has become politically useful once again.”
Talks between Trump and Kim broke down earlier this year in Hanoi over U.S. sanctions and North Korea’s nuclear weapons. (The two sides disagree over the definition of denuclearization, Elias Groll reports.) Xi’s visit could embolden North Korea: “The most likely scenario is that it gives Kim Jong Un the confidence to continue defying the U.S. negotiators,” Green said.
Still, China’s mistrust of Kim remains, he added: “I don’t think they are saying, ‘No matter what we will back North Korea.’” Chinese state media said President Xi Jinping was greeted with a huge arrival ceremony at the start of a two-day state visit to North Korea. The official Xinhua News Agency says about 10,000 people stood in formation and waved flowers at the airport in Pyongyang on Thursday.
Xi and his wife were met by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife. A banner read: "Long Live with Unbreakable Friendship and Unity Formed by Blood". The two communist nations fought together against the United States, South Korea and their allies in the 1950-53 Korean War. They have had close, though sometimes strained, ties since the war.
A former North Korean diplomat who defected to South Korea says he thinks the North's leader wants China to mediate between Pyongyang and Washington and relay his new proposal to President Donald Trump for a possible third summit. Thae Yong Ho defected to South Korea while serving in Britain in 2016. He says Kim would want Chinese President Xi Jinping to deliver his message to Trump when they meet at next week's Group of 20 summit in Japan.
Xi is making a two-day state visit to North Korea on Thursday and Friday. Thae says Kim may propose some compromise on his nuclear facilities to achieve a third summit but such a move would be only to buy time and not to denuclearize. Chinese state media say President Xi Jinping has arrived in North Korea for first visit since taking office in 2013.
The Xinhua News Agency says Xi arrived shortly before 11 a.m. Thursday. During the two-day state visit, he's expected to talk with leader Kim Jong Un about reviving talks with Washington over North Korea's nuclear weapons. China's official Xinhua news agency reported that Xi was accompanied by his wife, Peng Liyuan, and several Communist Party officials. He would be the first Chinese president to visit North Korea in 14 years.
The summit comes as both Xi and Kim are locked in separate disputes with the United States — Xi over trade and Kim over his nuclear weapons. Chinese state media say President Xi Jinping has departed for his state visit to North Korea, which he has said will strengthen the countries' strategic ties. Xinhua news agency said Xi left Thursday morning and was accompanied by his wife, Peng Liyuan, and several Communist Party officials. He's expected to have talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, including about his nuclear programme as talks have stalled with the US Experts say Xi will likely endorse North Korea's calls for an incremental disarmament process in which every action Pyongyang takes it met with US concessions on sanctions and security issues.