Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang on Monday for a two-day visit aimed at boosting ties with North Korea, his first trip to the country in seven years.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning said both sides would "use the visit as an opportunity to promote greater development of China-North Korea relations in keeping with the times," according to Al Jazeera.
The visit comes at a time when North Korea has strengthened its ties with Russia. That shift has drawn Beijing's attention, as China has historically been Pyongyang's most important economic and political partner.
China and North Korea's relationship stretches back more than 70 years to the Korean War, when between 200,000 and 400,000 Chinese soldiers were killed helping North Korea fend off South Korean forces backed by the United States and the United Nations. In 1961, Beijing and Pyongyang signed the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, under which China is obligated to intervene militarily if North Korea is attacked.
The relationship has not always been smooth. China repeatedly opposed North Korea's nuclear weapons program. After North Korea's first nuclear test in 2006, China called it a "flagrant and brazen" move. In 2009, China's ambassador to the United Nations at the time, Zhang Yesui, said Beijing supported sanctions against Pyongyang because its actions showed "disregard for the international community's common objective." China condemned North Korean nuclear tests in 2013 and 2016 as well.
Since 2018, however, Beijing has worked to repair those ties. That rapprochement took on new significance as North Korea deepened its relationship with Russia following Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
North Korea and South Korea remain technically at war. The conflict that began in the early 1950s ended in an armistice in 1953, not a peace treaty. More than 28,000 U.S. soldiers are still deployed in South Korea, a presence that North Korea has long opposed. China views that deployment as a threat to regional stability, which is one reason Beijing continues to cultivate its relationship with Pyongyang despite the complications that come with it.
Xi's visit is his first overseas trip of 2026.
