Chinese President Xi Jinping is slated to make an appearance in North Korea next month. Recent reports indicated he'll be attending the 70th-anniversary celebration of North Korea's founding - a move which is set to bolster the bilateral relations of the two Asian countries.
Beijing and Pyongyang have been trying to rebuild their strained ties since earlier this year after the alliance between the two nations went through a rough patch for quite some time. It was previously reported that the Xi Jinping administration chose to comply with UN sanctions imposed on the Hermit Kingdom.
Political experts see Beijing's move as a sign that the two countries' bilateral ties have already been improving with Xi's upcoming Pyongyang visit in September.
According to subsequent reports, Xi was invited by his counterpart, Kim Jong-Un, to grace one of the kingdom's most significant annual holidays, aside from the birthdays of the country's late leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-Il. This would be the first time for the Chinese head of state to visit the North Korean capital since he took power in 2012.
Before Xi, former Chinese leader Hu Jintao was able to visit North Korea in 2005, and four years later, former Chinese premier Wen Jiaobao made the same trip.
Kim, on the other hand, has visited China three times already in 2018. The first two visits were made before the NoKor leader went to Singapore to meet American President Donald J. Trump for the North Korea-US summit in June, and the third time the following week after.
Fox News said that China and NoKor's discussion then was primarily focused on implementing economic reform plans as well as establishing collaboration between the two nations.
It remains to be found out what the two leaders will tackle in September. Even then, the Chinese foreign ministry has yet to release a confirmation regarding the agenda of the meeting.
Analysts, however, are banking on the idea that the visit won't only be to improve relations between Beijing and Pyongyang but to also establish China's apparent role in North Korea's denuclearization process.
Furthermore, Xi's gesture of goodwill will send a clear signal to Washington that the US will need Chinese support when it comes to dealing with nuclear weapons issues in the future, more particularly in the Asian region.
According to the Strait Times, and as cited over at South China Morning Post, Xi is in a perfect position to persuade NoKor into giving up its nukes to ensure a lasting peace and security in Asia.
