Xi makes trip to see Kim in run-up to G20 Trump talks

XI JINPING will make the first trip to North Korea by a Chinese president in 14 years this week, state media said yesterday, as Beijing tightens its relations amid tensions with the United States.

Mr Xi will visit Pyongyang on Thursday and Friday at the invitation of Kim Jong-un, according to Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency.

The timing is likely to raise eyebrows at the White House as it comes just a week before the G20 summit in Japan, where Donald Trump, the US president, expects to meet Mr Xi to discuss their protracted trade war. Analysts say Mr Xi could use North Korea as leverage in talks with Mr Trump.

China and North Korea have worked to improve relations in the past year after they deteriorated as Beijing backed UN sanctions against its Cold War-era ally over its nuclear activities.

Kim, North Korea’s leader, has travelled to China – his country’s sole major ally – four times in the past year.

Until now, Mr Xi had not reciprocated. It will be the first trip there by a Chinese president since the visit of Hu Jintao in 2005.

The meetings between the two leaders have “opened a new chapter for CHINA-DPRK relations,” said Xinhua, citing Song Tao, a Chinese official.

“The signal would be that China remains a critical stakeholder,” said Prof Jingdong Yuan, a specialist in Asia-pacific security and Chinese foreign policy at the University of Sydney. Xi could use the trip as a “bargaining chip” in the Us-china trade war, he added.

According to an informed source in Pyongyang, Beijing was keen to arrange a visit to North Korea ahead of any encounter between Xi and Trump at the G20 summit.