Xi in Pyongyang: 'Blood ties' between China and North Korea
The agenda of the two-day visit remains secret. Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un will visit the Tower of Sino-Korean friendship, a monument celebrating the 600,000 Chinese soldiers who died during the Korean War. Denuclearization, peace with Seoul and relations with the United States at the center of talks between the two leaders. The video of Xi's arrival in the Korean capital.
Pyongyang (AsiaNews) – There are "blood ties" between China and North Korea, which neither country wants to break "with inappropriate or harmful behavior". That is why "China is ready to work with North Korea and the other actors involved, to play a positive and constructive role in achieving the denuclearization of the peninsula and lasting peace and stability in the entire region," underlined by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is currently on a state visit to North Korea.
Already the official term, the analysts stress, makes us understand the importance of this two days of Xi in Pyongyang. The previous visits of Chinese leaders to North Korean, and of Korean leaders to China had been called "friendly visits", "official visits" or "private visits". The status of "state visit" raises the bar in relations between the two nations, bound by a relationship that Mao Zedong once described as "intimate like that of the lips with teeth".
However, Xi and Kim's agenda is still not clear. The two officially meet to celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations between their respective nations. The spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Song Tao, also confirmed a joint visit to the "Tower of Sino-Korean Friendship", erected in Pyongyang in memory of over 600 thousand Chinese soldiers who died in Korea during the civil war of 1950-1953.
Certainly, the two will have to face at least three crucial issues: the denuclearization of the peninsula, the peace process with Seoul and the relationship with the United States. Beijing has indeed been at odds with Washington for about a year: the trade war between the two great nations has turned into an open conflict also in the field of computer security - the US is pointing the finger at Chinese cyber-terrorism - and that of influence in Eastern Pacific countries.
US president, Donald Trump, had two meetings which he called "fruitful" with Kim Jong-un. The failure of the last bilateral summit - which took place in Hanoi last February - caused some new North Korean missile tests in May. Still, the provocation did not lead to American reprisals: a sign that Trump wants to give Kim more strength.
The leaders of China, the United States and South Korea will meet at the G20 on June 28 and 29: South Korean Moon Jae-in has already confirmed a meeting with President Trump to be held a week after the summit, when Trump will visit Seoul for the second time.
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