It's Xi's first visit to North Korea in seven years. Earlier Monday, he was given a lavish welcome upon arrival at Pyongyang's international airport.
In a summit later Monday, Xi expressed China’s willingness to expand cooperation in a wide range of areas including trade, agriculture, construction and technology, China's state broadcaster CCTV said in an online report.
Xi said the two countries should strengthen strategic cooperation and firmly safeguard their respective sovereignty and security interests, according to the report.
Kim said Xi's visit “clearly demonstrates how unbreakable" the North Korean-China relationship is, CCTV said. It cited Kim as saying that consolidating a new era of friendship between the two countries is the “unchanging strategic choice” of North Korea.
Xi’s trip comes after his back-to-back summits with U.S. President Donald Trump and Putin in Beijing last month. Xi is expected to meet Trump again on a planned U.S. visit in September.
Xi will try to demonstrate China’s “sway over the Korean Peninsula” and “a leadership role in entire Northeast Asia in the age of strategic competition with the U.S.,” said Kwak Gil Sup, the head of One Korea Center, a website specializing in North Korea affairs.
China has long been North Korea's economic lifeline and main diplomatic backer. Experts say China has avoided fully enforcing U.N. sanctions on North Korea and sent clandestine aid to help its impoverished neighbor stay afloat. This year marks 65 years since the two countries signed a mutual defense treaty.
But there have been questions about their ties in recent years, with North Korea prioritizing cooperation with Russia supplying troops and weapons to support its war against Ukraine. In return, North Korea has received economic and military assistance from Russia.
Restoring an exclusive influence over North Korea would give Xi a leverage in dealings with Trump, who has repeatedly expressed his desire to restart diplomacy with Kim, experts say.
