Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in North Korea on Monday, China’s state media reported, for a two-day state visit that marks his first trip to Pyongyang in nearly seven years as Beijing looks to reinforce ties with its traditional ally that has increasingly been growing intimate with Russia.

Xi landed in Pyongyang earlier in the day at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported. He was accompanied by his wife, Peng Liyuan, Cai Qi, director of the general office of the Communist Party’s central committee, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

News footage aired by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed Kim and his wife, Ri Sol-ju, personally welcoming Xi and Peng at the airport in Pyongyang.

The two leaders shook hands after Xi descended from the aircraft, while North Korean children presented bouquets to the Chinese president and his wife.

A red carpet had been laid out at the airport ahead of Xi’s arrival, and large national flags of North Korea and China were displayed on the terminal building.

According to Xinhua News Agency, Xi attended a welcome ceremony held at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang.

Talks are expected to follow later in the day and are widely expected to cover economic ties and Korean Peninsula issues, as well as ways to coordinate among Pyongyang, Beijing and Moscow.

Across Pyongyang, portraits of Xi and flags of both nations lined the streets in preparation for the visit, according to Chinese media reports. Banners in Korean and Chinese celebrating the two countries’ traditional friendship were also on display throughout the capital.

In a separate dispatch, China’s Xinhua News Agency unveiled footage of a group of reporters travelling to Pyongyang from Dandong in China’s Liaoning Province on a train that resumed service earlier in the year.

Xi last travelled to Pyongyang on June 20-21, 2019, his first state visit to Pyongyang since taking office in late 2012.

The two leaders most recently met in September, when Kim travelled to Beijing for China’s Victory Day celebrations, standing alongside Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a military parade.

Kim has made five trips to Beijing to meet Xi since coming to power after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, in December 2011.

Xi’s upcoming North Korea trip carries symbolic weight. This year marks the 65th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance between Pyongyang and Beijing, giving both sides added reasons to reaffirm their alliance and deepen economic ties.

The occasion also comes amid growing ties between Pyongyang and Moscow. Last month, North Korean troops marched for the first time alongside Russian forces in Moscow’s Victory Day parade, which commemorates the Soviet Union’s victory over Germany in World War II.

Pyongyang, meanwhile, has made no effort to soften its military posture ahead of Xi’s arrival.

On Sunday, Kim’s sister Kim Yo-Jong declared the country’s nuclear status absolutely irreversible, calling it a “line of no retreat.”

Last week, the North Korean leader inspected what Pyongyang described as a newly launched nuclear materials production facility, vowing to exponentially expand the country’s arsenal. Kim also watched a naval destroyer’s navigation test and called for strengthening the country’s nuclear deterrent.

For Beijing, the visit could serve as a chance to reaffirm its influence over the Korean Peninsula. It follows Xi’s separate summits with U.S. President Donald Trump and Putin in Beijing last month, and his attendance at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea in October.

Against this backdrop, Xi is expected to arrive in Pyongyang with a clearer picture of where the major powers stand on Korean Peninsula affairs, offering a potential opening to restart the stalled diplomacy among Pyongyang, Washington and Seoul. (Korea Times/ Yonhap)

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A meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin has started in Beijing, Chinese state media report.

Xi welcomed Putin to the Chinese capital on Wednesday, shaking hands with the Russian leader outside the Great Hall of the People before their talks, video by Russian media showed.

Before entering the Great Hall, Putin and Xi walked down a red carpet, rolled out to greet the Russian leader, and stood as a military band played both their countries’ national anthems.

Putin began the talks by hailing the “strong, positive” momentum in cooperation between Russia and China, according to Russian media.

“Even amid unfavourable external factors, our cooperation and economic cooperation is showing strong, positive momentum,” Putin told Xi.

Addressing Putin, Xi lauded the “unyielding relationship” between China and Russia.

“We have been able to continuously deepen our political mutual trust and strategic coordination with a resilience that remains unyielding despite trials and tribulations,” Xi told Putin, according to China’s Xinhua news agency.

The Chinese leader also addressed the US-Israel war on Iran, telling his Russian counterpart that further conflict was “inadvisable” and a ceasefire was necessary.

“A comprehensive ceasefire is of utmost urgency, resuming hostilities is even more inadvisable and maintaining negotiations is particularly important,” Xi said, according to Xinhua.

In a video address released before meeting Xi, Putin said Russia and China were prepared to cooperate with each other on the “core interests ‌of ⁠the two countries, including the protection of sovereignty and national unity”, the Reuters news agency reports.

Both countries are actively expanding ⁠ties in economy, politics and defence, Putin said, adding that “a close” and “strategic” connection between Moscow and Beijing ⁠was playing “a stabilising role” in global relations.

“We are not aligning against anyone, but working ⁠for the cause of peace and universal prosperity,” Putin said.

Putin is being accompanied by a large delegation of Russian businesspeople and government leaders, and the Kremlin has announced that the two leaders will sign some 40 different agreements, covering everything from the economy and tourism to education. (Al Jazeera)

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Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping wrapped up critical talks on Friday, claiming important progress in stabilising US-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers. 

Xi welcomed Trump at his official residence, Zhongnanhai, on Friday for the final talks of the summit before the US leader returned to Washington.

Over tea and lunch, Trump and Xi, with top aides and translators in attendance, huddled for nearly three hours of talks before the US leader completed his three-day visit to China.

“It’s been really a great couple of days,” Trump told reporters as he sat with Xi before the start of their meeting with aides.

Xi, for his part, called it a “milestone” visit.

“We have established a new bilateral relationship, or rather a constructive, strategic, stable relationship,” he said.

Trump said he had made “fantastic trade deals” with Xi but gave no further details.

“Hopefully our relationship with China will be stronger and better than ever before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that Xi had congratulated him “on so many tremendous successes in such a short period of time”.

The talks have yet to deliver any major economic breakthroughs, with Trump primarily focused on securing deals in the agriculture, aviation and artificial intelligence sectors.

The summit, so far, has mainly been aimed at stabilising the relationship between the US and China and maintaining a fragile truce agreed on at the end of last year.

In October, Washington agreed to lower tariffs on all Chinese goods, while Beijing agreed to pause its restrictions on rare earths exports.

Besides trade, the two leaders did seem to make some progress on the topic of the Iran war.

Xi told Trump that Beijing wants to help negotiate an end to the war and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. China’s heavy reliance on Iranian oil could help it influence Tehran into making a deal with Washington.

According to the White House, “the two sides agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of energy”.

Trump added that China reassured it would not provide Iran with military equipment.

Meanwhile, Taiwan has emerged as one of the most divisive topics on the agenda, with Xi warning the US that disagreements over the self-governed island—which China claims as its own—could lead to clashes or conflict.

In December, Washington approved an $11 billion arms package to Taiwan, which it has not yet moved forward with delivering.

On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned it would be a “terrible mistake” for China to take Taiwan by force. (Euronews)

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Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with visiting U.S. President Donald Trump at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday.

Transformation not seen in a century is accelerating across the globe, and the international situation is fluid and turbulent, said Xi.

“Can China and the United States overcome the Thucydides Trap and create a new paradigm of major-country relations? Can we meet global challenges together and provide greater stability for the world? Can we build a bright future together for our bilateral relations in the interest of the well-being of the two peoples and the future of humanity? These are the questions vital to history, to the world and to the people,” said Xi.

They are the questions of the times that the leaders of major countries need to answer together, he added.

“I look forward to working together with you to set the course and steer the giant ship of China-U.S. relations, so as to make 2026 a historic, landmark year that opens up a new chapter in China-U.S. relations,” he said.

“I have agreed with President Trump on a new vision of building a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability,” Xi said.

The new vision will provide strategic guidance for bilateral relations over the next three years and beyond, and should be welcomed by the people of both countries as well as the international community, he said.

The “constructive strategic stability” should be a positive stability with cooperation as the mainstay, a sound stability with moderate competition, a constant stability with manageable differences, and an enduring stability with promises of peace, Xi said.

The building of a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability should not be a mere slogan, but concrete action taken by both sides toward the same goal, he added.

China-U.S. economic ties are mutually beneficial and win-win in nature, said Xi. “Where disagreements and frictions exist, equal-footed consultation is the only right choice,” he said.

Xi revealed that the economic and trade teams of the two countries produced “generally balanced and positive outcomes” in the latest round of bilateral trade talks on Wednesday.

“This is good news for the people of the two countries and the world,” he said, calling on the two sides to sustain the good momentum that they have worked hard to create.

Noting that China will only open its door wider, Xi said American companies are deeply involved in China’s reform and opening up, and the U.S. side is welcome to enhance mutually beneficial cooperation.

“The two sides should implement the important consensus we have reached, and make better use of communication channels in the political, diplomatic and military-to-military fields,” Xi said.

The two countries should also expand exchanges and cooperation in areas such as the economy and trade, health, agriculture, tourism, people-to-people ties and law enforcement, he added.

Regarding the Taiwan question, Xi stressed that it is the most important issue in China-U.S. relations.

If it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability. 

Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy, Xi said, urging the U.S. side to exercise extra caution in handling the Taiwan question.

Safeguarding cross-Strait peace and stability is the biggest common denominator between China and the United States, Xi said, emphasizing that “Taiwan independence” and cross-Strait peace are as irreconcilable as fire and water.

Trump said it was a great honor to pay a state visit to China, calling Xi a great leader and China a great country. “I have tremendous respect for President Xi and the Chinese people,” Trump said.

Trump expressed his willingness to work with Xi to strengthen communication and cooperation, properly handle differences, make bilateral relations better than ever before and embrace a fantastic future.

The United States and China are the most important and most powerful countries in the world, and the two presidents can “do a lot of big and good things for the two countries and the world,” he said.

Trump encouraged representatives of the U.S. business community to expand cooperation with China.

The two presidents exchanged views on major international and regional issues, such as the Middle East situation, the Ukraine crisis, and the Korean Peninsula.

They also agreed to support each other in hosting a successful APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting and G20 Summit this year. (Xinhua)

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US President Donald Trump told Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday that the two nations would have a “fantastic future together”.

“It’s an honour to be with you. It’s an honour to be your friend, and the relationship between China and the USA is going to be better than ever before,” Trump told Xi as they met for talks in Beijing.

Xi, on his end, told Trump that the two superpowers should be “partners and not rivals”.

“A stable China-US relationship is a boon for the world. Cooperation benefits both sides, while confrontation harms both. We should be partners and not rivals,” Xi said.

Trump was greeted by Xi on the red carpet at the Great Hall of the People, where the two shook hands and a grand reception took place. 

A Chinese military band played the two national anthems as cannons fired, before the two leaders walked past a row of military honour guards and children waving flowers and small American and Chinese flags, chanting “welcome, welcome”.

Xi also shook the hands of several other US officials, including US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

After the ceremonial welcome, the two leaders entered the Great Hall of the People to begin bilateral talks.

Trump arrived in Beijing for a two-day summit, where the two nations are expected to discuss their fragile trade relationship, the Iran war and Taiwan.

Topics of trade, the Iran war and Taiwan are on top of the agenda

The president is seeking to sign deals with China to buy more agricultural products and aircraft, saying he’ll be talking with Xi about trade “more than anything else”.

Trump’s trade war with Beijing has sent US-China trade into a freefall and forced companies on both sides of the Pacific to regroup.

The US leader also said he would have a “long talk” with Xi about Iran, which sells most of its US-sanctioned oil to China. Trump is expected to encourage China to push Tehran to make a deal with Washington, even though the US leader insisted that he doesn’t think the US “needs any help with Iran” from Beijing.

Meanwhile, Xi is expected to bring up Washington’s decision to sell weapons to Taiwan, a self-governed island that China claims as its own and says must come under its control.

In December, the US announced large-scale arms sales to Taiwan, valued at more than $10 billion (€8.6 billion), but it has not yet moved forward with the delivery.

Trump and Xi are trying to stabilise their relationship during their meeting in Beijing, which lasts from the 13th to the 15th of May.

The visit to Beijing marks the first by a US president since 2017, when Trump last visited along with his wife Melania Trump, who did not accompany Trump this time.

The US leader was also accompanied by several top CEO’s on his state visit, including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Tesla’s Elon Musk, Tim Cook of Apple, as well as other executives from Meta, Visa, JPMorgan Chase, Boeing, Cargill, and more.

Also on the agenda is a visit to the historic Temple of Heaven, a World Heritage site where China’s emperors once prayed for good harvest, and a state banquet at the hall in the evening. (Euronews)

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The official meeting between President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Chinese President Xi Jinping commenced at 05.00 PM Chinese time today.

According to the President’s Office, the meeting between the two heads of state is taking place at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is currently in China on an invitation extended by his Chinese Counterpart Xi Jinping. (Newswire)

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Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, who is currently on an official visit to China, called on Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall in Beijing today (Mar 27).

According to the PM’s Office, both countries agreed to continue to act under the friendship, peace, mutual respect and fivefold principle in international affairs that do not interfere in the internal affairs of a country. 

It was emphasized that bilateral relations should be based on mutual respect and mutual productivity between the countries, and acting according to that policy would set a good example for both countries.

The Chinese President also assured that China will support the schemes necessary for the development of Sri Lanka as soon as they are presented.

President Xi Jinping assured continuous support of China to Sri Lanka’s efforts for political and socioeconomic progress. He further said that China will always stand for safeguarding the independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka.

During the discussion which lasted for almost an hour, the Chinese President also thanked the Prime Minister’s father’s ancestry for their support to China. He stated that the party representing the Prime Minister and other parties in Sri Lanka hope to further increase cooperation with the Chinese Communist Party.

Responding, the Prime Minister thanked the Chinese President for the assistance provided during the unprecedented economic crisis and for extending debt restructuring facilities. He explained the progress in the implementation of decisions taken during the visit of President Ranil Wickremesinghe to China. 

PM Gunawardena further thanked President Xi Jinping for the support extended to sectors such as school education, agriculture, health, technology, culture and religion.

State Ministers Shehan Semasinghe and Ashoka Priyantha, MP Yadamini Gunawardena, Chinese Ambassador in Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong, Secretary to the Prime Minister Anura Dissanayake and senior officials also participated in the discussion. (NewsWire)

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Xi Jinping has been handed an unprecedented third term as president, capping a rise that has seen him become China’s most powerful leader in generations.

The appointment by China’s parliament comes after he was handed another five years as head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the military – the two more significant leadership positions in Chinese politics – in October.

Since then, 69-year-old Xi has faced challenges including mass protests over his zero-Covid policy and its subsequent abandonment that saw countless people die.

This week’s National People’s Congress (NPC), is a carefully choreographed event that is also set to appoint Xi ally Li Qiang as the new premier.

The lawmakers have focused instead on a sweeping revamp of Beijing’s science ministry and tech capabilities in the face of what one NPC deputy described as foreign attempts at “containment and suppression” of the country’s rise.

Beijing also unveiled during the parliamentary meeting a growth goal of “around 5%” – one of its lowest in decades – as well as a modest increase in defence spending.

Xi’s reelection is the culmination of a remarkable rise from a relatively little-known party apparatchik to the leader of a global superpower.

His coronation this week sets him up to become modern China’s longest-serving head of state, and will mean Xi will rule well into his seventies and – if no challenger emerges – even longer.

But the beginning of his unprecedented third term leading China comes as the world’s second-largest economy faces major headwinds, from slowing growth and a troubled real estate sector to a declining birthrate.

Relations with the United States are also at a low not seen in decades, with the powers sparring over everything from human rights to trade and technology.

In a speech to delegates at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which runs alongside the NPC this week, Xi criticised Washington’s “containment, encirclement and suppression of China”.

China, he said, must “have the courage to fight as the country faces profound and complex changes in both the domestic and international landscape”. (The Guardian)

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