Beijing, June 18: In a surprise move, Chinese President Xi Jinping is slated to embark on an official two-day visit to North Korea on June 20 shortly ahead of his scheduled meeting with United States President Donald Trump later this month on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
Xi is paying his visit to Pyongyang over “the invitation” from Kim Jong-un, North Korean leader, according to Xinhua news reports. Moreover, the North Korean state-run media has also confirmed Xi’s visit.
According to ANI news reports, the meeting has come amid stalled denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington, as well as, an ongoing trade spat between Beijing and Washington.
North Korea and China have had an abounding tie for decades, though Kim’s official visit to Beijing in March 2018 has marked the beginning of the new era of N Korea-China relations.
The N Korean leader has paid an official visit to China at least four times in the past year, as per CNN news reports.
Xi’s visit will make the first Chinese leader visit Pyongyang since his predecessor, Hu Jintao had visited the nation in 2005.
The Communist Party’s international department was quoted by state-run CCTV as saying the Chinese president’s visit would “inject new momentum” into the ties.
Xi’s visit would come after 70 years of the beginning of the diplomatic ties between China and North Korea, CCTV reported.
According to some analysts, Xi’s visit is believed to be reviving the unsuccessful disarmament dialogues between Kim and Trump since the Hanoi summit failure which marked the second historic summit between North Korea and the US.
Kim and Trump failed to reach any denuclearization deal due to a large difference between both leaders as Trump stressed over Kim’s last year promise to the full denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, whereas Kim focused over the US sanction relief.