▶️ Chinese State Media footage provided by AP shows: Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived Thursday in North Korea’s capital and was greeted with a 21-gun salute at the airport, the release of thousands of balloons and crowds lining the streets, as his car wound its way to the mausoleum where the North’s founder lies.
The elaborate ceremonial welcome for Xi marks his first visit to North Korea since taking power seven years ago.
About 10,000 people stood in tight formation, waving flowers and chanting slogans to welcome Xi, according to Xinhua. Kim and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, met the visiting delegation at the airport.
👉In the highly formalized world of China-North Korea relations, Xi Jinping’s trip to Pyongyang carries enormous symbolic significance. Although less certain, it may also yield outcomes that could influence both countries’ relations with the U.S.
With tensions over trade, Taiwan and Hong Kong dominating Xi’s diplomatic agenda, the trip also offers some welcome breathing space as the traditional allies work to strengthen ties that have been rocky at times, usually in relation to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
Though relations between Xi and the North’s leader Kim Jong Un got off to a bumpy start, Kim has now made four visits to China since March 2018, each time taking care to show the proper deference to his country’s most important ally and provider of aid, trade and diplomatic support. The timing of Xi’s first visit as president ahead of the G-20 summit in Japan later this week seems to signal an intention that China remains a key player in peninsular affairs.
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