Xi–Kim Spectacle Sparks Big Questions

ARTHUR CYR: China President Xi visits North Korea

President Xi Jinping of China has emphasized traditional alliance relationships through his successful ceremonial visit to North Korea June 8-9. In this case, “traditional” means commitment to communist solidarity. During the long Cold War, communism rightly was regarded as a…

Xi’s Summit with Kim: Views from the Neighborhood

By keeping neighbors guessing about his intentions and avoiding any concessions, it is Kim who appears to have gained the most from the Chinese leader's visit.

Xi–Kim Spectacle Sparks Big Questions

Xi Jinping’s Pyongyang visit sent a clear message: Beijing wants the world to see the China–North Korea relationship as alive, upgraded, and carefully staged. Quick Take Xi and Kim used warm language about deeper ties and future cooperation.[2][3] The trip was treated as a state visit with full ceremony and public pageantry.[2][4] The timing lined up with the 65th anniversary of the China-DPRK treaty.[4][5] The record shows symbolism and signal…

Why the real focus of Xi’s state visit to North Korea was Taiwan, not Russia

Editor’s note: The following article is an opinion piece by John Everard, a former member of the U.N. Panel of Experts and the British ambassador to Pyongyang from 2006-2008. Views expressed in opinion articles are exclusively the author’s own and do not represent those of NK News. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first state visit to North […]

Xi Jinping in Pyongyang: Why North Korea’s Survival Still Depends on China

NEW DELHI – When Chinese President, also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) Central Committee, Xi Jinping’s special plane touched down at Pyongyang International Airport on the afternoon of June 8, 2026, he was greeted by the full, meticulously choreographed theater of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Alongside a twenty-one-gun salute, cheering crowds wielding flowers, and the presence of the DPRK’s St…

China’s Strategic Shift on the Korean Peninsula: Xi in Pyongyang

Beijing’s visit is about more than just maintaining relations with a long-time ally. It is an attempt to recapture control of a neighbour that has grown in its strategic alliances, especially with Russia. Another purpose of the visit is to regain the diplomatic initiative on Korean Peninsula issues, as Beijing wants. The most pressing problem looming over the visit is probably North Korea’s rapidly expanding nuclear program. The timing of Xi’s v…