President Xi Jinping visits North Korea: 'Kill two birds with one stone'

North Koreans wave flowers to welcome the Chinese President, Xinhua News Agency photo. However, no photos of Mr. Xi in Pyongyang were released until late last night.

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang on a two-day state visit yesterday. Observers said the trip was aimed at boosting the morale of the neighboring country, which is under UN sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs, a week before Xi meets US President Donald Trump at the G20 summit amid lingering US-China trade tensions.

Xi is the highest-ranking Chinese leader to visit North Korea in 14 years. Chinese state television said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, greeted Xi at the airport. Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, and North Korean officials with prominent roles in nuclear negotiations with the United States were also present.

Chinese television news said Mr. Xi was welcomed by his host in an open-top car and paraded through the main streets of Pyongyang with crowds cheering him on both sides of the road.

Mr Xi's visit comes as tensions have returned on the Korean peninsula as the US seeks to force Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.

Reuters quoted some diplomats as saying that President Xi's visit was an affirmation that China was in an increasingly deteriorating relationship with the United States.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (left) and Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Dalian in May. Photo: AFP.

Chinese media said that on the first day of his visit to North Korea, Mr. Xi attended a welcoming banquet and watched a spectacular mass gymnastics performance. The visit took place just a week before the G20 summit in Japan, where Mr. Xi and US President Donald Trump are expected to meet to find ways to ease the year-long trade tensions between the world's two largest economies.

The timing of Xi's visit to North Korea is not coincidental, according to Li Zhonglin, a North Korea expert at Yanbian University in China.

China may hope to play a role in persuading North Korea and the United States to restart nuclear talks after the failure of the US-North Korea summit in Hanoi, Mr. Li added.

“President Xi’s visit to North Korea could play a positive role in bringing about the next US-North Korea summit,” Mr. Li said. “China wants a breakthrough.”

Mr. Kim has visited China four times since last year, and China has praised both the United States and North Korea for trying to resolve the issue through dialogue rather than threats of force or troop movements.

In another development, US and Chinese officials will restart trade talks, but China hopes that the US will create the necessary conditions for dialogue, China's Commerce Ministry said yesterday.

Talks aimed at reaching a broad trade deal collapsed last month after US officials accused China of reneging on previous commitments.

But hopes of reviving talks were raised after a phone call on Wednesday between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and confirmation they will meet next week at the G20 summit in Japan.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Wednesday he would speak by phone with Vice Premier Liu He, who leads China's trade negotiations, "in a day and a half."
“The heads of the two trade delegations will communicate with each other, following the instructions of their superiors,” Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters. “We hope (the US) will create the necessary conditions and atmosphere to resolve the issue through equal dialogue,” Gao said, according to Reuters.