Chinese President Xi Jinping meets Kim Jong Un in North Korea

Xi Jinping is the first Chinese President to visit North Korea in 14 years, after relations between Cold War allies deteriorated following the Pyongyang nuclear provocations and Beijing's subsequent support for UN sanctions.

Pyongyang, North Korea:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday in Pyongyang for a historic visit to consolidate a difficult alliance, with the two men facing particular challenges with US President Donald Trump.

Xi was the first Chinese President to visit North Korea in 14 years, after the deterioration of relations between Cold War-era allies, caused by Pyongyang's nuclear provocations and Beijing's support for UN sanctions.

However, as he engaged in a wave of Diplomacy last year, Kim made sure that Xi - his country's chief of diplomatic support and main provider of trade and aid - was the first head of State he met.

North Korea had visited its oldest ally in China four times, and Pyongyang was increasingly keen for Xi to return the favor, while, according to diplomats, Beijing was waiting for the time to see the nuclear talks between Kim and Trump take place.

But Beijing's trade negotiations with Washington were interrupted last month and some analysts believe that Xi is now looking for leverage before his meeting with Trump at the G-20 summit in Japan next week.

"When China and North Korea face the US, they have a lot to discuss," wrote Lijian Zhao, Deputy Head of mission of the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan on Twitter.

Kim met Xi at Pyongyang airport as he began a two-day state visit with his wife Peng Liyuan, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other officials, according to the Chinese state media.

Portraits of the two leaders were outside the terminal, images were shown, and a 21-gun salute was fired.

Chinese flags were flying all over the capital and hundreds of thousands of people were lined up in the streets in accordance with the standard closed-circuit television procedure when a foreign leader went to the remote north, whose authorities are adept at holding spectacular exhibitions.

But in an unprecedented move, Xi was welcomed to the Kumsusan Palace, the mausoleum where the preserved bodies of the founder of the North, Kim Il Sung, and his successor, Kim Jong Il - the grandfather and father of the current ruler rest.

Kim and Xi then had formal interviews, Xinhua reported.

The newspaper Rodong Sinmun, spokesman for the ruling party, devoted the first half of the cover page to the visit, accompanied by a color photo of Xi accompanying a profile.

In an editorial, the trip to an era of "complex international relations" showed that the leaders in Beijing attach "great importance to the friendship between the DPRK and China."

"Our people are proud to have a close and trusted friend like the Chinese people," he added.

Symbolic visit

Xi's visit will be largely symbolic, and no official joint communiqué is expected - as was the case at the Kim summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok, Russia.

The authorities have imposed strict restrictions on coverage. International journalists in Pyongyang were informed that they would not be able to cover it, while foreign media organisations initially invited to attend the event proved unable to obtain visas.

Sources stated that the Chinese media delegation accompanying Xi had also been reduced compared to the original plans.

The North wants to show Trump that China's support for nuclear negotiations stalled after the second Trump-Kim summit broke down without any agreement.

In February in Hanoi, the two men clashed over what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in exchange for a lifting of sanctions.

For the north, the visit "will serve to show the United States that China has its back and send a message to Washington to end its maximum pressure posture," said Lim Eul-chul, professor of North Korean Studies at Kyungnam University.

Analysts believe that this trip is also a chance for China to demonstrate its influence in the region and in the discussion process, at a time when it is at odds with the United States on trade issues.

By clearly asserting Beijing's role, Xi said in a rare article in Rodong Sinmun that China would play an active role in "strengthening communication and coordination " between the North and" the other parties concerned " in order to move the negotiations forward.

Beijing feared being marginalized after the North Korean leader agreed to meet with Trump last year, with the American leader going so far as to declare that he had fallen "in love" with Kim.

"Xi wants everyone to remain aware that they can influence Kim and that no comprehensive and lasting agreement with North Korea can be reached without China's help and approval," said Scott Seaman, Asia director of the Eurasia Group consulting group, in a study. Note.

Beijing sees the North as a strategic buffer, keeping the 28,500 American soldiers in South Korea far from its borders. Xi's trip will include a visit to the Friendship Tower in Pyongyang, a monument to the millions of Chinese soldiers who saved Kim Il Sung. forces of defeat in the Korean War.