What is the story about?
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang on Monday for a rare state visit that experts say is likely meant to reassert
China’s unique influence over North Korea in return for providing economic and political benefits. China’s Xinhua News Agency reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju welcomed Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan upon their arrival at Pyongyang’s international airport. Xinhua said the two leaders shook hands.
Xi later arrived at Pyongyang’s main square, where a military honor guard and thousands of people, including children carrying balloons, staged a welcoming ceremony. Buildings surrounding the plaza were adorned with the two countries’ flags, giant portraits of Kim and Xi, and red-and-yellow banners celebrating the nations’ friendship and unity.During a two-day trip, his first visit to North Korea in seven years, Xi is expected to hold a summit with Kim. It will be their first meeting since September, when they met in Beijing after viewing a military parade alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin and other foreign leaders.
No specific agenda has been mentioned. Foreign experts predict the meeting will have significant ramifications on bilateral ties and beyond, as both leaders seek to fully restore their traditional alliance in the face of separate confrontations with the U.S.
“A Chinese leader doesn’t just visit North Korea because a visit is due. Xi’s trip will have real implications for China-DPRK relations,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s full name.
Xi’s trip comes after his back-to-back summits with U.S. President Donald Trump and Putin in Beijing last month. Xi is expected to meet Trump again on a planned U.S. visit in September.
Xi will likely demonstrate China’s sway over the Korean Peninsula and assert a leadership role in Northeast Asia amid strategic competition with the U.S., said Kwak Gil Sup, the head of One Korea Center, a website specializing in North Korea affairs.
China has long been North Korea's economic lifeline and main diplomatic backer. Experts indicate that China has avoided fully enforcing U.N. sanctions on North Korea and has sent clandestine aid to help its impoverished neighbor stay afloat. This year marks 65 years since the two countries signed a mutual defense treaty.
However, questions have arisen regarding their ties in recent years, with North Korea prioritizing cooperation with Russia by supplying troops and weapons to support its war against Ukraine. In return, North Korea has received economic and military assistance from Russia.
Restoring exclusive influence over North Korea would provide Xi with leverage in dealings with Trump, who has repeatedly expressed a desire to restart diplomacy with Kim, experts say.
“Implementing U.N. Security Council resolutions and enforcing sanctions do not appear to be priorities for China,” Easley stated.
In an article published on North Korea's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper Monday, Xi emphasized that China and North Korea must enhance strategic cooperation and work together to oppose hegemonism and coercive politics while pursuing an orderly multipolar world.
Xi is likely to offer Kim economic aid packages, including shipments of rice and fertilizers, a resumption of Chinese group tourism to North Korea, and joint economic projects, analysts suggest.
“North Korea can’t solely rely on Russia. It needs to align with China,” Kwak said.
In a Monday editorial, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper referred to Xi as “the most honored state guest,” noting that Pyongyang’s streets are filled with an atmosphere of friendship.
Xi may also avoid pressing Kim on denuclearization and instead vaguely discuss peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. This approach would be crucial for Kim, who is eager to gain international recognition as a nuclear weapons state to advocate for the lifting of U.N. sanctions on North Korea.
“Chinese officials have adopted a position of not publicly discussing denuclearization while still keeping it as a long-term goal. Kim appears to want Xi to accept North Korea as a nuclear neighbor,” Easley remarked.
Following last month’s summit between Trump and Xi, the White House announced that the two leaders confirmed their shared goal to denuclearize North Korea. However, China only indicated that the leaders discussed the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula. On Sunday, Kim’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, dismissed the U.S. readout of the Xi-Trump meeting as “false information.”
Last week, Kim unveiled a new plant for producing nuclear ingredients and vowed to accelerate the country’s nuclear capabilities. He also observed sea trials of a new naval destroyer and called for expediting efforts to build a nuclear-armed navy.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung stated Monday that North Korea is producing enough nuclear materials annually for approximately 10-20 bombs and is nearing the perfection of intercontinental ballistic missile technology. Lee emphasized that the world must first focus on persuading North Korea to freeze its nuclear materials production and ICBM program as a short-term goal.
On Sunday, Kim’s sister reiterated her brother's sentiments, labeling the U.S. push for North Korean denuclearization as an “escapist and anachronistic dream.”
Kim Jong Un has rebuffed U.S. and South Korean offers for talks and has concentrated on expanding and modernizing his nuclear arsenal since his high-stakes diplomacy with Trump faltered in 2019. The North Korean leader remarked in September that he still holds “good personal memories” of Trump but urged the U.S. to withdraw its demand for North Korea to denuclearize as a precondition for resuming diplomacy.
Experts suggest that Kim would eventually seek arms reduction talks with the U.S. to gain concessions in exchange for partially surrendering his nuclear weapons.
__
Associated Press writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul and E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing contributed to this report.
