China’s Xi hails deeper understanding at end of North Korea summit
Written by: Heejin Kim and Josh Arslan
SEOUL/BEIJING, June 9 (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded his first visit to North Korea in seven years on Tuesday, creating a deeper, more comprehensive understanding that provides a clearer path for improving relations, the official Xinhua news agency said.
North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Xi agreed to expand cooperation in politics, economy and culture at the summit held in Pyongyang, which opened a new page in relations.
“The mutual understanding between China and North Korea has become deeper and more comprehensive, and the direction of future development has become clearer and more defined,” he told his hosts over lunch before leaving, Xinhua reported. he said.
In images taken from China’s state broadcaster CCTV, after an enthusiastic send-off of Pyongyang residents lined up along the road to the airport, waving flags and chanting friendship slogans, Kim waved both hands as Xi’s plane advanced on the tarmac.
Earlier, the leaders had jointly planted a fir tree on the grounds of a key political training school for party cadres, which Xinhua said symbolized “ever-renewed friendship”.
The agency added that on the second day of his visit to China’s only official treaty ally, Xi also visited Pyongyang’s China-Korea Friendship Tower, built in memory of Chinese soldiers who died in the Korean War.
KCNA said they both agreed to strive for closer strategic communication through visits of senior officials.
Kim told Xi that Beijing would fully support the “One China principle”, which means both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to a single country, regardless of changes in the international situation.
China considers democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never shied away from using force to bring the island under Beijing’s control, despite rejecting Taipei’s claims to sovereignty.
ANALYSIS SEE OPPOSITE PRIORITIES
But despite expressions of goodwill, analysts saw conflicting priorities in official summaries of the visit.
Analysts said Xinhua detailed proposals ranging from top-tier stock markets to trade and agriculture to the restoration of transport links, but KCNA framed the summit more broadly as an equal partners agreement.
Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University in South Korea, said Pyongyang emphasizes the reputation of the regime and the “special relationship” of its neighbors, while Beijing emphasizes practical inter-state ties and initiatives towards international order.
“North Korea has eliminated elements that could make it appear as a dependent, dependent or beneficiary party and rewritten the relationship as one between equals,” said Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea National Unification Institute.
“It erased signals of dependence or subordination while amplifying signals of solidarity, such as anti-US and Taiwan-related messages.”
China is North Korea’s largest trading partner and analysts say Xi’s trip could be focused on trade and tourism.
“Sometimes I think the two countries may seem quite friendly on the surface, but in reality there are still many problems,” said Zhu, a 43-year-old doctor in Beijing who declined to give his full name.
CITIZENSHIP SONGS
KCNA said Xi and First Lady Peng Liyuan, accompanied by Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju, attended a performance of Chinese and North Korean songs that emphasized the “value and closeness of North Korea-China friendship.”
He was referring to the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
KCNA stated that at the banquet organized by Kim for the 65th anniversary of the friendship treaty between the neighbors, Xi stated that China-North Korea relations had reached “a new historical starting point”.
Xinhua said on Monday that Xi promised that Beijing would not give up its determination to protect common interests.
However, North Korean media did not say whether Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program or its relations with the United States were included in the talks.
Ja Ian Chong, a political science professor at the National University of Singapore, said such an absence showed that Beijing wanted the visit for the sake of neighborly ties.
US President Donald Trump met with Kim three times during his first term before unprecedented diplomatic efforts broke down over US demands that North Korea give up nuclear weapons. Trump has said he would be willing to restart negotiations.
“It is doubtful that Xi will serve as a catalyst for U.S.-North Korea negotiations,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
(Reporting by Heejin Kim, Joyce Lee, Kyu-seok Shim and Brenda Goh in Seoul and Josh Arslan, Xiuhao Chen and Liz Lee in Beijing; Editing by Ed Davies, Lincoln Feast and Clarence Fernandez)
