Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Pyongyang is set to start on Monday, as Beijing tests its influence over a neighbor pulled increasingly into Russia's orbit.
The two-day trip will be Xi's first to North Korea in nearly seven years and he is expected to hold talks with leader Kim Jong Un. In a commentary published in North Korea's state newspaper ahead of his arrival, Xi pledged "unwavering" friendship and vowed to deepen bilateral cooperation across multiple areas, including the military.
"North Korea has more leverage vis-a-vis China compared to June 2019, when Xi last visited Pyongyang," said Rachel Minyoung Lee, senior fellow at the Stimson Center's Korea Program, citing deepened military ties with Moscow, advances in its nuclear program, and an improved economy in recent years.
North Korea is expected to use the summit to press for economic concessions, and potentially even for Beijing's tacit recognition of its nuclear status — something Russia is believed to have privately conceded, Lee added. China has publicly opposed Pyongyang's nuclear tests in the past, but its current stance is ambiguous and "the North Koreans seem set on clarifying that during Xi's visit," she said.
