Wang Huning, chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and China’s fourth-highest-ranking official, arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday leading a three-day delegation to mark the 65th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, in Beijing’s most direct effort yet to pull North Korea back into its orbit after Pyongyang’s deepening alignment with Moscow.
Wang met Jo Yong-won, secretary of the Central Committee of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, and affirmed Beijing’s commitment to implementing agreements reached between Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during Xi’s June visit to Pyongyang, the first such visit in seven years. Jo told Wang that North Korea was seeking to develop strategic communication and tactical cooperation with Beijing, and described bilateral ties as having entered a new stage of development under the leadership of both countries.
The visit is the third high-level China-North Korea exchange in a matter of weeks. North Korean Premier Pak Thae-song met Xi in Beijing earlier this month to mark the treaty anniversary, during which Xi urged both sides to maintain strategic resolve in a turbulent global environment.
The Treaty of Friendship signed on July 11, 1961 remains China’s only active mutual defence pact. Yang Moo-jin of Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies told Reuters the flurry of meetings reflected a shared urgency: North Korea wants Chinese economic and geopolitical backing while China seeks to prevent losing the initiative in Northeast Asian affairs to Russia.
