Xi gets warm North Korea welcome as Kim draws nuclear red line

Chinese President Xi Jinping received an elaborate welcome in North Korea, aiming to reassert Beijing’s influence over its neighbor with an expanding nuclear arsenal and a deepening alliance with Russia.

Xi’s two-day visit marks his first to North Korea in seven years and comes after he hosted US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Beijing for high-profile summits.

Xi’s trip underscores his efforts to remind the world that Beijing remains Pyongyang’s most important political patron and economic lifeline, even as North Korea’s defense partnership with Russia has provided new diplomatic leverage.

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