North Korea, China claim wins from Xi visit, but limits remain

North Korea and China both walked away claiming major wins from Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit this week to the isolated state, which helped elevate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's global stature and pulled Pyongyang more tightly into China's orbit.



The two countries each lavished the other with praise and spoke of deeper cooperation during the two-day trip, which saw Kim greet Xi with a 21-gun salute as well as a performance of Chinese and North Korean songs and avoided discussion of thornier issues such as denuclearisation and the United States.



Kim "has often talked about how North Korea is now a pivotal player in reshaping the global order, and its partnership with Russia has been a major catalyst in validating that assertion," said Jenny Town, director of the Korea program at the Washington-based Stimson Center.



"Having Xi now take his first trip out of country this year to visit Pyongyang on an agenda that didn’t include North Korea's nuclear programme was a big win for Kim."



The lack of discussion around denuclearisation, which had in the past strained China's relationship with North Korea, is a significant change.