North Korea gives Xi a lavish welcome at a pivotal juncture for two allies

BEIJING/PYONGYANG – China’s top leader Xi Jinping made a two-day trip to North Korea, his first in seven years, where he received a lavish welcome from his counterpart, Kim Jong Un.

The main ceremony took place on June 8 in Pyongyang, the capital, at Kim Il Sung Square, the North Korean equivalent to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. It is overlooked by the Grand People’s Study House, North Korea’s national library.

Huge, formally dressed crowds, including children, filled the square in a highly choreographed display of loyalty.

Kim relies heavily on these spectacles to project power and political messages. This type of reception is typically reserved for a small group of visiting foreign dignitaries.

The Chinese leader’s visit comes at a pivotal moment for both countries. China is seeking to reassert its influence as North Korea’s largest trading partner and closest ally, looking to counterbalance Kim’s recent drift towards Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Feeding Putin’s war effort in Ukraine has transformed Kim’s fortunes, giving him a stronger hand in talks with Xi.

But Kim is still looking to Beijing for vital economic aid and diplomatic cover, seeking recognition as a nuclear power and a partnership in building the “multipolar” world order that both nations envision as a counterweight to American dominance.

Xi cast the visit as an opportunity to strengthen coordination between Beijing and Pyongyang, according to Chinese state media.

China prizes North Korea as a vital buffer against US influence in North-east Asia, backing Pyongyang in the Korean War and cementing ties with a 1961 alliance treaty. Now, Kim and Xi have pledged to commemorate the treaty’s 65th anniversary in 2026 by forging an even broader strategic front against Washington and its allies.

Although bound by the treaty, relations between China and North Korea have long been marked by tension and distrust.

Fractures emerged as China built robust trade ties with South Korea during post-Cold War decades, while North Korea conducted nuclear weapons tests and Beijing joined Washington in imposing tough sanctions.

In his first seven years as China’s leader, Xi never visited Pyongyang, depriving Kim of the prestige of hosting his most powerful neighbour.

The dynamic began to shift when Kim became the first North Korean leader to meet a sitting US president, holding three summit meetings with President Donald Trump in 2018 and 2019. Xi met Kim before or after each of those summits in an effort to keep Pyongyang in China’s orbit.

Ties cooled during the pandemic, but Kim’s growing alignment with Moscow has since compelled Beijing to court North Korea once again.

This week’s talks in Pyongyang “may be remembered as the most consequential of the seven summit meetings” the two leaders have held to date, said Sung-yoon Lee, a senior fellow at the Sejong Institute, a think-tank in Seoul, South Korea.

He said the repeated invocation of “strategic” in both governments’ statements, combined with an unprecedented focus on military exchanges, suggests that “Beijing is increasingly defining North Korea as a long-term strategic partner in an emerging Eurasian geopolitical contest versus the US and its allies”. NYTIMES