• Chinese leader calls ties ‘new historical starting point’
• Pledges to protect sovereignty, security interests during Pyongyang trip

SEOUL: China will not swerve from its commitment to safeguarding common interests with North Korea or waver in its support for Kim Jong Un, President Xi Jinping told the North’s leader during a rare Pyongyang summit on Monday.

The neighbours should strengthen strategic ties and firmly protect their sovereignty, security and development interests, Xi told Kim, according to an official Chinese summary of the meeting.

Xi’s two-day visit, his first in seven years to China’s reclusive neighbour, comes at a time when Pyongyang’s economy, strengthened by growing trade and military ties to Russia, could boost Kim’s confidence in talks. “I am deeply pleased and also feel a special sense of closeness,” Xi told Kim on his first international trip this year.

“The firm support for Comrade General Secretary Kim Jong Un’s leadership of the DPRK socialist cause will not change, and the firm determination to safeguard common interests and good strategic environment … will not change,” Xi said, using the acronym for the North’s formal name, the Demo­cratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The Chinese leader arrived at a red-carpet welcome from Kim and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, alongside an honour guard, while children presented bouquets, video from Chinese state media showed. A 21-gun salute was fired at the capital’s Kim Il Sung Sq­­uare, the Xinhua news agency said.

Ties were at a “new historical starting point,” Xi said earlier, before urging stronger exchanges in areas ranging from diplomacy and the military to trade and technology. “Important consensus” was reached during the talks, Xi added during a banquet Kim held on Monday evening.

Xi called on Kim to “oppose hegemony, authoritarianism and all attempts and conspiracies to revive militarism that endanger regional security and stability” in remarks published in the North’s state media Monday.

“The Xi-Kim summit is a rem­i­n­der that Beijing still sees Pyongyang as a strategic asset,” said Craig Singleton, a senior China fellow at the Foundation for Defence of De­­mocracies. The neighbours, alongside Russia and Iran, share an interest in blunting US power, he added.

Since last year, Pyongyang has resumed crossings at the Chinese border and stepped up exchanges frozen during the Covid-19 pandemic. Both should capitalise on these restored links as “an opportunity to expand people-to-people exchanges,” Xi said.

“The sustainability of improved North Korea-Russia and increasing North Korea-China relations may influence just how long Kim can continue to ignore Washington and Seoul,” said Sydney Seiler of Wa­­shington’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2026