Xi Jinping travels to North Korea to meet with Kim Jong before Trump talks

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

Pyongyang:

Chinese President Xi Jinping makes a historic trip to Pyongyang on Thursday, re-establishing a troubled alliance as he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un face their own challenges with US President Donald Trump.

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

Xi and Kim are working to reestablish ties. The young North Korean leader has visited his older comrade four times in China over the past year and Beijing has called for a relaxation of sanctions.

But Chinese officials waited to return the visit, waiting for its time to see how the nuclear talks between Kim and Trump would unfold before deciding to visit Pyongyang, according to analysts.

Xi's two-day visit is an opportunity for China to demonstrate its influence in the region.

"For North Korea, the upcoming meeting will serve to show the US that China has its back and send a message to Washington to stop its top pressure posture," said Lim Eul-chul, professor of North Korean Studies at Kyungnam University.

The negotiations between Trump and Kim deteriorated after the break-up of a second summit in February without an agreement, without reaching an agreement on what Pyongyang would be willing to abandon in exchange for a lifting of sanctions.

The trade negotiations between Beijing and Washington collapsed last month.

Xi could return from Pyongyang with some weight when he meets Trump at the G20 summit in Japan next week.

'Serious error'

In a rare article published Wednesday in the North Korean official journal, Xi praised the "irreplaceable" friendship of neighboring nations and proposed an "ambitious plan" to bring permanent stability to East Asia.

He also promised that Beijing would play an active role in strengthening the communication and coordination with North Korea and other concerned parties" in order to advance the negotiations in the Korean peninsula.

Beijing had 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.

The editorial was not so subtle that Beijing remained Pyongyang's closest ally.

China views the North as a strategic buffer for South Korea, keeping the 28,500 American troops in South Korea far from its borders.

Xi, who will have the honor of making a state visit, will pay tribute to the Friendship Tower of the capital, monument to Chinese troops who saved the north from defeat during the Korean War.

In the last few days, soldiers and workers have refreshed it.

Yongwook Ryu, professor of international relations at the National University of Singapore, said that Xi could make a "serious mistake" if he tried to use North Korea as a bargaining chip with Trump, as the American leader separated security concerns from economic concerns.

"If Xi could put pressure on North Korea to denuclearize it, that is to offer a carrot to Trump, he could perhaps get a Trump deal or conclude a trade agreement with Trump more likely," Ryu said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang rejected concerns that Beijing's close ties with Pyongyang could be used to pressure the US, saying "people who have such ideas just tend to think too much."