Premier's DPRK visit to deepen ties

Premier Li Qiang will travel to Pyongyang on Thursday on an official goodwill visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and to attend the 80th anniversary celebrations of the Workers' Party of Korea. The trip is aimed at further consolidating and deepening high-level exchanges between the ruling parties and governments of the two nations.

Li, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, will lead a Party and government delegation to the DPRK.

The three-day visit marks the most senior Chinese official's visit to the neighboring country since 2019.

China stands ready to work with the DPRK through this visit to follow the guidance of the important common understandings reached between the top leaders of the two parties and two countries, enhance strategic communication, strengthen exchanges and cooperation and advance bilateral traditional friendship and cooperative ties, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in an online statement on Tuesday.

Noting that Beijing and Pyongyang are traditional friends and neighbors, the spokesperson said that it is an unswerving strategic policy of the CPC and the Chinese government to maintain, consolidate and develop China-DPRK relations.

Li's visit comes amid heightened high-level exchanges between the two countries. Last month, DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un attended the commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) and the World Anti-Fascist War in Beijing.

During his meeting with Kim on Sept 4, President Xi Jinping said the DPRK leader's attendance at the commemoration provided an important opportunity for the two parties and countries to further advance their friendly and cooperative relations.

Three weeks later, DPRK Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui visited China for the second time in a month and held talks with Li and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, respectively.

Observers said Li's upcoming visit is an important part of the close high-level exchanges between the two countries, and signals the stable, healthy and rapid development of bilateral ties.

Yang Xiyu, a senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, said that the visit is expected to focus on strengthening exchanges and cooperation between the two sides in state governance and advancement of their respective socialist cause.

As the two neighbors share many common interests and both need a peaceful and stable external environment for development, the two sides will coordinate their positions on regional and international hotspot issues such as the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, Yang said.

The nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula has drawn significant international attention recently. According to the official Korean Central News Agency, during the 13th Session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly, Kim said that the DPRK would never abandon its nuclear weapons, but could resume talks with the United States if Washington drops its preoccupation with denuclearization and seeks peaceful coexistence with the DPRK. The foreign ministry said earlier that China stays committed to a political solution to the issue.

Wang Junsheng, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' National Institute of International Strategy, said Li's trip serves as a reciprocal visit to Kim's visit to China, and demonstrates the special relationship between the two ruling parties.

zhoujin@chinadaily.com.cn