BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang on Monday, Chinese state-run media said, starting his first trip to North Korea since 2019, as the two nations prepare to mark in July the 65th anniversary of the signing of a treaty of mutual assistance.
During his two-day trip, Xi is expected to reaffirm with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un their countries' commitment to deepening strategic cooperation following their agreement to boost bilateral ties at their previous summit in Beijing last September.
Observers are closely following whether Xi and Kim will discuss North Korea's nuclear development program, which China has not criticized recently, as well as their respective policies toward the United States and Japan.
Kim and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, welcomed Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, at a Pyongyang airport. After Xi walked down the airstairs, Kim warmly shook hands with the Chinese leader, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency.
North Korean children presented flowers to Xi and Peng. The Chinese president is being accompanied by top diplomat Wang Yi and Cai Qi, the No. 5 figure in China's ruling Communist Party, Xinhua added.
In an article published Monday in the Rodong Sinmun, the official mouthpiece of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, Xi said the two countries should "oppose hegemonism and power politics," and "reject any scheme or action aimed at reviving militarism and undermining regional security and stability."
His remarks, also reported by Chinese state-run media, apparently targeted the United States and Japan.
Beijing has recently stepped up its criticism of Tokyo's defense buildup policies spearheaded by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi amid a bilateral row over her parliamentary remarks last November on Taiwan, a self-ruled island claimed by China.
Takaichi said an attack by the mainland on Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan that could trigger a response by the Self-Defense Forces in support of the United States.
Many Chinese and North Korean flags were hoisted on a main street in Pyongyang to welcome Xi. The Rodong Sinmun also said in its editorial Monday that North Korea will "continue to forge ahead by joining hands with Chinese comrades."
Xi's talks with Kim come after meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing last month.
Following the summit between Xi and Trump, the White House said the two leaders confirmed their shared goal of denuclearizing North Korea, but China did not refer to the issue in its readout.
On Saturday, Kim's sister Kim Yo Jong, who serves as a senior ruling party official, said the confirmation by Trump and Xi of the denuclearization goal was "false information," suggesting Pyongyang does not intend to discuss its nuclear program during the summit between Xi and Kim Jong Un.
The China-North Korea Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, signed in 1961, includes provisions guaranteeing immediate military and other support in the event of an armed attack on either nation.
When China's top diplomat Wang visited North Korea in April, he agreed with his North Korean counterpart Choe Son Hui that the two countries would hold commemorative activities and deepen cultural exchanges.
Beijing-Pyongyang ties have recently improved after apparently souring over North Korea's deepening military cooperation with Russia, with North Korean troops sent to aid Moscow in its war against Ukraine.
China is North Korea's closest and most influential ally in economic terms. The two Asian countries fought together in the 1950-1953 Korean War against the U.S.-led U.N. forces, and they have long described their relationship as that of "blood brothers."
