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China’s Xi congratulates N. Korea’s Kim on key anniversary

October 9, 2015

Xi Jianping, left, and Kim Jong-un.

BEIJING (Yonhap) In a congratulatory message sent to Kim, Xi extended “warm congratulations” to Kim, according to Chinese state-run media. North Korea is set to hold a huge military parade on Saturday to mark the anniversary with Liu Yunshan, a member of the Chinese Communist Party’s politburo standing committee, attending.

“Xi expressed his sincere wish that the DPRK (North Korea) people, under the leadership of the WPK (Workers’ Party of Korea) headed by First Secretary Kim Jong Un, would keep making new and greater achievements in the cause of Korean-style socialist construction,” Xinhua news agency reported.

Xi hailed the “glorious tradition” of the friendship between North Korea and China.

“China is willing to make joint efforts with the DPRK comrades to well maintain, consolidate and develop the friendship between China and the DPRK in the interest of the two countries and two peoples, so as to play a positive and constructive role in maintaining regional as well as world peace and stability,” Xi said in the message.

Kim, who took power in late 2011 following the death of his father, has yet to meet with Xi.

Political ties between China and its only treaty ally, North Korea, remain strained, particularly after the North’s third nuclear test in February 2013.

However, few analysts believe that China will exert enough pressure on the North to give up its nuclear weapons because it could lead to the collapse of the North’s regime and hurt China’s national interests.