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Pyongyang Meeting Seen as Bolstering Xi Ahead of Trump Talks

Bill Ide

   BEIJING - Joyce Huang contributed to this report.

   Chinese President Xi Jinping's two-day state visit to North Korea
   couldn't have come at a better time for both countries, analysts say.
   For Pyongyang, it could help pave the way back to negotiations with the
   United States. For Beijing, they say, it provides Xi Jinping with a way
   to highlight China's influence on the North Korean nuclear issue.

   One key message of Xi's visit is the claimed strength of ties between
   the two countries -- a narrative state media in both countries have
   been pushing heavily over the past two days. The Korean Central News
   Agency (KCNA) called the visit a "decisive" display of friendship.

   KCNA said that friendship needs to be strengthened given the "serious
   and complex" state of international relations. According to China's
   state-run Xinhua news agency, Xi said at a welcome banquet that the two
   countries had agreed to "unswervingly pass down their traditional
   friendship from generation to generation."
   But ties between the two countries are much more tense and complex than
   state media reports suggest, partly explaining why Xi is the first
   Chinese leader to visit North Korea since 2005.

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