When Xi Jinping visited North Korea in June 2019 for his first state visit, he would not have expected nearly seven years later that the hermit kingdom would be in an alliance with Russia. As Xi concluded his second visit to the country yesterday, the Chinese president’s pledges to ‘strengthen strategic coordination’ and ‘uphold regional peace and development’ with his North Korean counterpart emphasised how Beijing wants to ensure that its northeastern neighbour does not cross any red lines. With Beijing having been Pyongyang’s largest economic partner for nearly two decades, Xi’s visit serves as a clear reminder to North Korea that China wants to maintain close ties and, crucially, ensure stability on the Korean Peninsula.
The streets of Pyongyang were festooned with flags of China and North Korea, banners praising the ‘eternal’ and ‘unbreakable’ friendship between the two countries, and portraits of Xi himself. Last September, Kim Jong-un invited his Chinese counterpart to Pyongyang, after the North Korean Supreme Leader visited Beijing for China’s Victory Day celebrations, where he stood watching the parade next to Xi and Vladimir Putin as if equals.
Nevertheless, Xi’s two-day sojourn to Pyongyang this week was no ordinary trip. The Chinese leader’s first overseas visit this year comes at a time when relations between North Korea and Russia have only been getting closer.
