Xi to meet Kim Jong-un as China seeks closer ties with North Korea

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in North Korea on Monday for a two-day visit aimed at strengthening Beijing’s relationship with Pyongyang amid growing regional tensions and North Korea’s deepening ties with Russia.

Xi is expected to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang during his first trip to the country in nearly seven years.

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The visit comes ahead of the 65th anniversary of the friendship and mutual assistance treaty between China and North Korea, which remains China’s only formal defence pact with another country.

Relations between the two neighbours have faced challenges in recent years following a sharp decline in trade during the Covid-19 pandemic and closer military cooperation between North Korea and Russia.

North Korea has reportedly sent thousands of troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine, while Moscow and Pyongyang signed a mutual defence agreement last year.

“Within North Korean propaganda, there are really over the top paeans to the closeness with Russia forged in fighting a war together. Whereas with China it’s kind of nostalgic,” John Delury, a senior fellow for the Asia Society, told the Guardian.

“They don’t want to let North Korea’s closeness with Russia outpace the ties with China too much.”