By KEN MORITSUGU and SIMINA MISTREANU, Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged mutual support and enhanced cooperation during talks in Beijing on the sidelines of festivities commemorating the end of World War II, state media said Thursday.
Xi and Kim, along with top officials from their countries, met at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People a day after Kim attended a Chinese military parade alongside other foreign leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim is making a rare trip outside North Korea.
Xi highlighted the “traditional friendship” between China and North Korea and pledged to consolidate and boost relations, according to a readout of their statements published by state broadcaster CCTV.
“This position will not change regardless of how the international situation evolves,” Xi told Kim, according to CCTV.
China has been North Korea’s biggest trading partner and aid provider, though questions have lingered about the strength of their bilateral relationship.
In recent years, Kim’s foreign policy has focused heavily on Russia. He has sent combat troops and ammunition to back Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in return for economic and military assistance. At a meeting with Kim in Beijing after the parade, Putin praised the bravery of North Korean soldiers in the fighting.
But experts say that Kim would feel the need to prepare for the possible end of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Kim, on his first visit to China in six years, brought his young daughter, adding to speculation that she’s being primed as the country’s next leader.
On Wednesday, he joined 26 foreign leaders who watched the parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. It was the first time that Kim had joined an event with a large group of world leaders since taking office in late 2011.
During his meeting with Xi, Kim lauded the “friendly feelings” between North Korea and China, which he pledged would persist “regardless of how the international situation changes.”
Kim said North Korea was ready to boost exchanges with China at all levels and “deepen mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation,” according to CCTV.
North Korea’s economy has been suffering under heavy U.S. sanctions tied to Pyongyang’s development of nuclear weapons. Some observers say Kim’s trip could also be meant to increase leverage in potential talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly expressed his hopes to resume diplomacy between the two countries.
China is believed to want its neighbor to return to negotiation and give up its nuclear weapons development.
North Korea’s more recent closer ties with Russia have raised some concern in Beijing, which has long been Pyongyang’s most important ally.
The joint appearance of Kim, Xi and Putin at the parade has sparked speculation about a joint effort to push back at U.S. pressure on their three countries. Trump said as much in a social media post, telling Xi to give his warmest regards to Putin and Kim “as you conspire against The United States of America.”
Putin dismissed that idea at a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday, saying no one has expressed anything negative about the Trump administration during his trip to China.
“The President of the United States is not without a sense of humor,” he said.
Although China, North Korea and Russia are embroiled in separate confrontations with the U.S., they haven’t formed a clear three-way alliance so far.
Zhu Feng, the dean of Nanjing University’s School of International Relations, said that “ganging up” with North Korea would damage China’s image, because the former is the most closed and authoritarian country in the world.
“It should not be overinterpreted that China-North Korea-Russia relations would see reinforcement,” he said.
Mistreanu reported from Taipei, Taiwan. Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this report from Seoul, South Korea.
