China's Xi to Visit North Korea        06/05 06:20

   

   BEIJING (AP) -- Chinese leader Xi Jinping will travel to North Korea next 
week, both countries announced Friday, in what will be his first visit in 
nearly seven years.

   His trip will be the latest in a series of steps by China to reinforce its 
close ties with its nuclear-armed neighbor. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has 
reached out to Russia in recent years, notably by sending troops and 
conventional weapons to support its war against Ukraine.

   But in the past year, Kim has likewise been trying to improve ties with 
China, the North's biggest trading partner and provider of aid.

   "As North Korea builds closer ties with Russia, China seeks to use Xi's trip 
to reassert its influence over Pyongyang and safeguard its strategic interests 
in northeast Asia," said William Yang, an analyst for the International Crisis 
Group.

   Xi will make a state visit from Monday to Tuesday, Chinese and North Korean 
state media said in brief dispatches. His last visit was in June 2019.

   The trip will serve to advance ties and strengthen regional peace and 
stability, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday.

   "The traditional friendly and cooperative relations between China and the 
DPRK have continued to develop in a sound and stable manner, bringing tangible 
benefits to both countries and their peoples," spokeswoman Mao Ning said, using 
the abbreviation for North Korea's full name.

   The trip is coming just a few weeks after Xi hosted U.S. President Donald 
Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in quick succession in Beijing.

   North Korea's nuclear weapons program has long been a major concern for the 
United States, which opposes it. The U.N. has imposed economic sanctions on 
North Korea because of its nuclear and missile development.

   The announcement of the trip came a day after North Korea unveiled a new 
facility to produce the material for nuclear bombs. It is believed to be a 
uranium enrichment plant, though North Korea has not confirmed that.

   During a visit to the plant, Kim announced plans to bolster the country's 
nuclear forces "at an exponential rate." Experts say the plant's disclosure 
implies that Kim was eager to cement his country's status as a nuclear weapons 
state ahead of Xi's visit.

   The experts say Kim wants international recognition as a nuclear state so he 
can demand the lifting of the sanctions. They say Kim would ultimately push for 
arms reductions talks with the U.S. to win concessions in return for a partial 
surrender of his country's nuclear capability.

   Kim has been focusing on expanding his nuclear arsenal since his high-stakes 
diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019.

   Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to restore diplomacy with Kim, but 
the North Korean leader has said the U.S. must first drop its demand for North 
Korea to denuclearize as a precondition for talks.

   Analysts will be watching to see what if anything China says during Xi's 
visit about calls for North Korea's denuclearization.

   Xi and Kim met in Beijing in September and pledged mutual support and 
enhanced cooperation. Kim was in the Chinese capital to attend a Chinese 
military parade alongside other foreign leaders including Putin.

   Russia and China, both veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, 
have previously frustrated efforts by the U.S. and others to toughen 
international sanctions on North Korea, despite its banned weapons tests.

   At their meeting in Beijing last month, Putin and Xi expressed their 
opposition to "foreign policy isolation, economic sanctions, military pressure 
and other methods of creating threats to the security" of North Korea, 
according to a statement from the Kremlin.

   Embracing the ideas of a "new Cold War" and a multipolar world, Kim has 
pushed for a more assertive foreign policy by expanding ties with countries 
locked in confrontation with the United States.

   The trip abroad is a relatively rare one for Xi, who has curtailed his 
international travel sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic. His last overseas 
visit was to South Korea last fall for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation 
summit, where he met Trump.