Xi arrived in Pyongyang to a red-carpet welcome from Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju, alongside a guard of honour
\nPyongyang
\nChina will not swerve from its commitment to safeguarding common interests with North Korea or waver in its support for Kim Jong Un, President Xi Jinping told Pyongyang\u2019s leader on Monday during a rare summit.
\nThe neighbours should strengthen strategic ties and firmly protect their sovereignty, security, and development interests, Xi told Kim, according to an official Chinese summary of the meeting, as Beijing seeks to draw Pyongyang closer.
\nXi\u2019s two-day visit, his first in seven years to China\u2019s reclusive neighbour, comes as North Korea\u2019s economy\u2014bolstered by growing trade and military ties with Russia\u2014could increase Kim\u2019s confidence in negotiations.
\n\u201cI am deeply pleased and also feel a special sense of closeness,\u201d Xi told Kim during his first international trip this year. He reaffirmed that China would continue to highly value its traditional friendship with North Korea regardless of global changes, the summary said.
\n\u201cThe firm support for Comrade General Secretary Kim Jong Un\u2019s leadership of the DPRK socialist cause will not change, and the firm determination to safeguard common interests and a good strategic environment \u2026 will not change,\u201d Xi added.
\nHe referred to North Korea\u2019s official name, the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea.
\nXi arrived to a red-carpet welcome from Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju, with a guard of honour and children presenting flowers, Chinese state media video showed. A 21-gun salute was fired at Kim Il Sung Square, where crowds chanted slogans and released balloons under large portraits of the leaders, Xinhua reported.
\n\u2018Strategic asset\u2019
\nXi urged Kim to oppose \u201chegemony, authoritarianism and all attempts and conspiracies to revive militarism that endanger regional security and stability,\u201d according to North Korean state media.
\n\u201cThe Xi-Kim summit is a reminder that Beijing still sees Pyongyang as a strategic asset,\u201d said Craig Singleton of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
\nThe two countries, along with Russia and Iran, share an interest in countering U.S. influence, he added.
\nXi also called for promoting fair multilateralism and inclusive economic globalisation, with regional peace and stability as shared goals.
\n\u201cHis visit is about keeping the tradition alive in very different conditions than his last trip,\u201d said John Delury of the Asia Society.
\nFlags of both countries lined Pyongyang\u2019s streets in footage released by Xinhua.
\nXi was accompanied by senior officials including Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Defence Minister Dong Jun, and Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.
\nHe hosted Kim and other leaders last year at a major military parade in Beijing alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin.
\nSince then, Pyongyang has resumed border crossings with China and increased exchanges after pandemic-era isolation, while Air China resumed flights between the capitals in March.
\nXi encouraged expanding people-to-people exchanges as ties recover.
\n\u201cThe sustainability of improved North Korea\u2013Russia and North Korea\u2013China relations may influence how long Kim can ignore Washington and Seoul,\u201d said Sydney Seiler of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
\nOn the eve of Xi\u2019s visit, North Korea unveiled plans for a 10,000-ton naval destroyer and reaffirmed its nuclear status.
\nThe Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates North Korea now has about 60 nuclear warheads, up from 50 last year, and is increasing fissile material production sufficient for at least 30 more warheads.
\nFlags, gun salute greet China\u2019s Xi
\nTies between China and North Korea are at a \u201cnew historical starting point\u201d, President Xi Jinping said on Monday in remarks published in the neighbour\u2019s state media as he arrived in Pyongyang for a rare summit with leader Kim Jong Un.
\nChina\u2019s unwavering policy is to develop ties with the North and both will strengthen exchanges in all areas, Xi said in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper ahead of a visit seen as significant because it is his first international trip this year.
\n\u201cWe must oppose hegemony, authoritarianism and all attempts and conspiracies to revive militarism that endanger regional security and stability,\u201d Xi added, as Beijing looks to draw Pyongyang closer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Xi arrived in Pyongyang to a red-carpet welcome from Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju, alongside a guard of honour Pyongyang China will not swerve from its commitment to safeguarding common interests with North Korea or waver in its support for Kim Jong Un, President Xi Jinping told Pyongyang\u2019s leader on Monday during a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":98773,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98806,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98792\/revisions\/98806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}