Chinese President Xi Jinping reached Pyongyang on Monday for a rare state visit to North Korea. He received a lavish welcome — Kim Jong Un drove to the airport and accorded a military honor guard to the Chinese leader in the main square of Pyongyang. State media reported that thousands of people had staged a ceremony to greet the Chinese leader and celebrate the “friendship and unity” between the two nations.
Xi is expected to hold a summit with Kim during the two-day trip. 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.
Significance of the visit
No specific agenda has been announced for Xi Jinping’s first visit to the country in seven years. Foreign experts predict the meeting will have big ramifications on bilateral ties and beyond — with both countries seeking to restore their traditional alliance in the face of separate confrontations with the US. Some suggested that the trip was likely meant to reassert China’s unique influence over North Korea in return for providing economic and political benefits.
Xi Jinping has met with several key politicians this year — with both US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin visiting Beijing in recent weeks. It also follows Chinese assertions that Japan is pursuing a “new militarism” policy, a claim that Tokyo has dismissed.
“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,” Leif-Eric Easley — a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul — told AP.
Kwak Gil Sup — the head of One Korea Center, a website specializing in North Korea affairs — told the publication that Xi would likely try to demonstrate China’s “sway over the Korean Peninsula” and “a leadership role in entire Northeast Asia in the ages of strategic competitions with the US”.
Xi Jinping accorded grand welcome in Pyongyang
According to the Xinhua News Agency, Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan were met at the airport b North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju. The Chinese state-run platform reported that the two leaders had shaken hands and exchanged greetings.
The Chinese President was also met with a military honor guard at Pyongyang’s main square. Thousands — including children carrying balloons and hopping around — reportedly staged a welcoming ceremony. Buildings surrounding the plaza were draped in the two countries’ flags, giant portraits of Kim and Xi and red-and-yellow banners welcoming the Chinese leader and celebrating their “friendship and unity”.