Chinese President Xi Jinping will travel to North Korea next week, in what will be his first visit in nearly seven years.
His trip will be the latest in a series of steps by China to reinforce its close ties with its nuclear-armed neighbour.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reached out to Russia in recent years, notably by sending troops and conventional weapons to support its war against Ukraine.
But in the past year, Kim has likewise been trying to improve ties with China, the North’s biggest trading partner and provider of aid.
Xi will make a state visit from Monday to Tuesday, local time, Chinese and North Korean state media announced today.
His last visit was in June 2019.
The trip will serve to advance ties and strengthen regional peace and stability, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Friday.
“The traditional friendly and cooperative relations between China and the DPRK [North Korea] have continued to develop in a sound and stable manner, bringing tangible benefits to both countries and their peoples,” spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
The trip is coming just a few weeks after Xi hosted US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in quick succession in Beijing.
Nuclear expansion
North Korea’s nuclear weapons program has long been a major concern for the United States, which opposes it.
The United Nations has imposed economic sanctions on North Korea because of its nuclear and missile development.
The announcement of the trip came a day after North Korea unveiled a new facility to produce the material for nuclear bombs, believed to be a uranium enrichment plant, though North Korea has not confirmed that.
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, Kim Jong Un visits a new facility to produce nuclear bomb fuels at an undisclosed place in North Korea. (AP: Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service)
During a visit to the plant, Kim announced plans to bolster the country’s nuclear forces “at an exponential rate”, potentially eager to cement his country’s status as a nuclear weapons state ahead of Xi’s visit.
Kim has been focusing on expanding his nuclear arsenal since his high-stakes diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019.
Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to restore diplomacy with Kim, but the North Korean leader has said the US must first drop its demand for North Korea to denuclearise as a precondition for talks.
Leaders broker a multipolar world
Xi and Kim met in Beijing in September and pledged mutual support and enhanced cooperation.
Kim was in the Chinese capital to attend a Chinese military parade alongside other foreign leaders, including Putin.
Russia and China, both veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council, have previously frustrated efforts by the US and others to toughen international sanctions on North Korea, despite its banned weapons tests.
At their meeting in Beijing last month, Putin and Xi expressed their opposition to “foreign policy isolation, economic sanctions, military pressure and other methods of creating threats to the security” of North Korea, according to a statement from the Kremlin.
Embracing the ideas of a “new Cold War” and a multipolar world, Kim has pushed for a more assertive foreign policy by expanding ties with countries locked in confrontation with the United States.
The trip abroad is a relatively rare one for Xi, who has curtailed his international travel sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic.
His last overseas visit was to South Korea last year for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, where he met Trump.
AP
