Xi Jinping arrives in North Korea, pledges 'invincible friendship'

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang on an official visit, pledging an "invincible friendship" with North Korea and its leader Kim Jong Un. The trip marks Xi's first visit to the isolated nation since 2019 and his first foreign trip of the year after hosting international summits in Beijing.

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China's President Xi Jinping hailed an "invincible friendship" with Pyongyang on arrival in North Korea today

China, North Korea's primary trading partner and diplomatic ally, provides crucial support amid extensive international sanctions. Video showed military officers and children greeting Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, as they arrived on an Air China plane. A banner proclaimed "unbreakable friendship" between the two countries.

The visit comes as North Korea's nuclear negotiations with the United States remain deadlocked. While the White House previously stated Xi and President Trump shared a goal of denuclearizing North Korea, Kim's sister recently asserted the country's nuclear program is a "line of no retreat." South Korean President Lee Jae Myung commented that Seoul should not abandon denuclearization efforts, noting North Korea continues to produce nuclear material.

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Beijing probably has accepted North Korea as a nuclear state

Analysts suggest China's stance may be evolving. Minseon Ku, a diplomacy professor at DePaul University, believes Beijing likely accepts North Korea as a nuclear state and will prioritize stability. Seong-Hyon Lee, a visiting scholar at Harvard University's Asia Center, suggests China is shifting towards "underwriting regime durability" rather than pressuring Pyongyang for denuclearization, as a stable, armed buffer state serves China's regional strategy by engaging US military resources.

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China's broader regional strategy benefits from a stable, heavily armed, and aligned buffer state that absorbs US and allied military bandwidth

North Korea has declared itself an "irreversible" nuclear state since the 2019 summit between Kim and Trump collapsed. Leader Kim Jong Un has also reportedly secured critical support from Moscow following his country's involvement in the Ukraine war. Some analysts speculate Xi's visit could be an effort to counter Russia's growing influence in North Korea, though China remains the dominant regional power.

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North Korea's nuclear weapons programme was "the line of no retreat"