US adversaries China, North Korea strengthening ties as Xi, Kim set to begin talks
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang on Monday for a rare state visit to North Korea, marking his first trip to the country in seven years and signaling what analysts say is a renewed effort by Beijing to reassert its dominant influence over its isolated neighbor.
Xi is expected to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The meeting would be their first since September, when the two leaders met in Beijing alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin and other foreign dignitaries at a military parade. No formal agenda has been announced for the Pyongyang summit, but foreign policy experts predict the talks will carry significant weight for the broader region, as both nations seek to restore a traditional alliance that has frayed in recent years.
The visit comes against a backdrop of escalating tensions between each country and the United States. Just last month, Xi held back-to-back summits with President Donald Trump and Putin in Beijing, and he is scheduled to meet Trump again during a U.S. visit in September.
China has long served as North Korea's economic lifeline and most important diplomatic ally. Beijing has not fully enforced United Nations sanctions against Pyongyang and has, according to reports, provided covert assistance to help sustain the country's struggling economy. This year marks the 65th anniversary of the mutual defense treaty signed between the two nations.
Still, questions have lingered in recent years about the depth of that partnership, as North Korea has increasingly turned toward Moscow. Pyongyang has supplied troops and weapons to support Russia's war in Ukraine and received economic and military assistance from the Kremlin in return.
Analysts warn that a restored Chinese grip over North Korea could give Xi considerable leverage in his dealings with Trump, who has repeatedly expressed a desire to revive diplomacy with Kim. To solidify ties, Beijing is expected to offer Pyongyang a package of economic incentives, including shipments of rice and fertilizer, a resumption of Chinese group tourism to the North, and new joint economic projects.
At the same time, experts say Xi is likely to sidestep the issue of North Korean denuclearization during the summit. Pyongyang has made clear it seeks international recognition as a nuclear weapons state and has shown no interest in returning to negotiations on that basis. By avoiding the topic, China could use the visit to call for an easing of U.N. sanctions on the North.
The two governments appear to be pursuing sharply different narratives on the denuclearization question. Following Xi's summit with Trump last month, the U.S. side announced that both leaders had affirmed a shared commitment to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. China, however, issued a more measured statement, saying only that the two leaders discussed the nuclear issue. Kim Jong Un's sister, Kim Yo Jong, who serves as a senior official, dismissed the American readout as "false information."
Tensions around North Korea's nuclear program have only intensified in recent weeks. Last week, Kim Jong Un unveiled a new facility for producing nuclear materials and pledged to expand the country's nuclear forces "at an exponential rate." He also announced plans to accelerate the development of a nuclear-armed navy.
The day before Xi's arrival, Kim Yo Jong described U.S. proposals for North Korean denuclearization as an "escapist and anachronistic dream." Kim Jong Un himself has rejected recent offers of talks from the United States and South Korea, and in September he demanded that Washington drop denuclearization as a precondition for any future negotiations.
With the summit underway, the world is watching to see whether Xi's visit marks a genuine reset in the China-North Korea relationship — and what that could mean for diplomacy, nuclear stability, and U.S. interests across the Pacific.