Chinese President Xi Jinping has wrapped up his first visit to Pyongyang since 2019, but the lavish red-carpet welcome and acrobatic performances masked a transformed relationship: Kim Jong Un is no longer the junior partner.
No concrete deals emerged from the two-day trip, yet Kim declared that Xi's choice of North Korea for his first state visit of the year showed the "utmost importance" placed on bilateral ties, according to state news outlet KCNA. At an evening banquet, Xi praised the two countries as "linked by mountains and rivers and share a common destiny", state outlet Xinhua reported. Kim echoed the sentiment, calling the friendship a top priority and reaffirming support for Beijing's "One China" principle.
“Xi Jinping's first Pyongyang visit since 2019 reveals Kim Jong Un's transformed status as a nuclear power playing off China and Russia.”
But the visit comes as Beijing scrambles to reassert sway over a partner that has drawn closer to Russia. Seven years after Xi's last trip in 2019, when a sanctioned and impoverished Kim was utterly dependent on China, North Korea is now a de facto nuclear power. Ten years ago, Chinese officials routinely denounced Pyongyang's nuclear tests and voted for sanctions alongside the US and Russia. Now such concerted action is unthinkable.
Kim's bet on weapons programmes paid off when Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. North Korea has since sent ballistic missiles, artillery shells and even troops to Russia in exchange for hard cash, oil, food and sensitive military technology. Putin affirmed North Korea's right to strengthen its defence during a visit to Pyongyang in 2024, signing a defence treaty that resurrected their Cold War partnership.
That deepening relationship has strengthened Kim's hand with China. When Xi last visited, Kim's diplomatic offensive with Donald Trump had petered out. Then Covid forced him to seal borders, cutting off trading routes with China – which accounts for roughly 95% of North Korea's trade – and plunging his population into greater hardship. Yet he continued to pump money into weapons, a gamble that paid off.
Discussions about denuclearisation were notably absent from state media readouts of the talks, reflecting China's toned-down calls in recent years. Xi, accompanied by de facto chief of staff Cai Qi, defence minister Dong Jun, foreign minister Wang Yi and commerce minister Wang Wentao, said he reached an "important consensus" with Kim to "grasp the trend of the times" and deepen exchanges.
Kim's rising stature was evident at a military parade in Beijing last year to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, when he strode into Tiananmen Square alongside Xi and Putin at the head of invited leaders. Like his grandfather Kim Il Sung during the Cold War, the North Korean leader now hopes to play off Moscow and Beijing against each other, securing support from both. Xi, who curtailed overseas travel to just six foreign visits last year, has reminded Kim that his main benefactor remains China. But for Kim, having such a VIP on his doorstep – weeks after Xi met with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin – signals that despite continued international sanctions, he has important friends.
This year also marks the 65th anniversary of the China-North Korea defence pact, the only one China has with any country. The visit is a reminder of the strength of their friendship, Kim said, even amid "upheaval in international affairs".