Beijing vows to maintain Pyongyang friendship
China’s No 3 official makes the pledge during a meeting with North Korean leader
China’s No 3 official Zhao Leji met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un yesterday, pledging to maintain Beijing’s friendly ties with its communist neighbour.
State news agency Xinhua reported that Zhao, the head of the national legislature, told Kim: “It is our unswerving policy to maintain, consolidate and develop the traditional friendly cooperative relations between China and North Korea.”
Zhao was leading a delegation of senior officials to North Korea to mark 75 years of bilateral ties.
He is the most senior Chinese official to visit after Pyongyang resumed diplomatic activities around a year ago following three years of border closures because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Zhao also said China stood ready to work with North Korea to promote stronger ties while continuing to “strongly support each other and safeguard the common interests of both parties”.
“What we have gone through together is 75 years of good neighbourliness, fighting side by side, sharing a common destiny and common development,” he said.
The friendship between China and North Korea, he added, “has withstood various tests from the changing international situation and is our shared precious wealth”.
The meeting, which followed high-level visits to North Korea by Chinese officials, came amid speculation about potential talks between President Xi Jinping and Kim later this year.
The pair have not met since Xi last visited Pyongyang in 2019.
The North Korean leader said that the Chinese delegation’s visit showed ties between the two countries were “deeply rooted and unbreakable”.
“The DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] is willing to strengthen cooperation in various fields and exchange of experience in state governance with China, deepen traditional friendship, and write a new chapter in the DPRK-China relationship,” he said.
Zhao met his North Korean counterpart Choe Ryong-hae on Thursday, saying China was willing to “intensify high-level exchanges” and strengthen “strategic coordination” with North Korea.
His trip came amid tensions on the Korean peninsula and coincided with maritime drills by the US, Japan and South Korea.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency reported that the Communist Party international liaison chief Liu Jianchao, Culture and Tourism Minister Sun Yeli, foreign vice-minister Ma Zhaoxu and commerce vice-minister Li Fei were part of the delegation.
Zhao’s visit took place at a time when North Korea is seeking to strengthen ties with Russia as Western countries accuse it of supplying weapons to Moscow to support its invasion of Ukraine.