Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and President of the People’s Republic of China, paid a state visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), from June 8-9 at the invitation of his DPRK counterpart Kim Jong Un.
Immediately prior to his arrival in the DPRK capital Pyongyang, Rodong Sinmun (Workers’ Newspaper), the central organ of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), published a signed article by Xi Jinping, entitled, ‘Carrying Forward the Past and Opening the Future, Forging Ahead Together – Writing a New Chapter in the Traditional China-DPRK Friendship’.
In the article, Xi states: “China and the DPRK are friendly socialist neighbours that watch over and help each other and share a common destiny. The traditional China-DPRK friendship is the shared precious treasure of the two parties, the two countries, and the people of the two countries. No matter how the times change or how the international situation shifts, the traditional China-DPRK friendship has always been unbreakable and grows stronger over time… Historically, the older generation of leaders of China and the DPRK knew one another intimately and were as close as can be. In recent years, I have met with General Secretary Kim Jong Un six times, maintained close strategic communication, and jointly drawn up the blueprint for the development of China-DPRK relations.”
He adds: “The shared socialist ideal is the defining character of China-DPRK relations. The Communist Party of China and the Workers’ Party of Korea are both Marxist ruling parties, and China and the DPRK are fellow travellers on the socialist road… The traditional friendship of shared destiny is the deep foundation of China-DPRK relations. In the turbulent years of fighting for national independence and national liberation, the people of China and the DPRK shared weal and woe, depended on each other in life and death, and forged a great fighting friendship with their blood. In the development of each country’s socialist cause, the two peoples have stood shoulder to shoulder, sharing comforts and hardships, vividly embodying the comradely friendship of mutual trust, solidarity, and mutual aid.”
Noting that, “in recent years, in the face of accelerating once-in-a-century changes in the world and an international situation entangled by change and turbulence, China and the DPRK have insisted on concentrating their energies on managing their own affairs well, forging ahead and striving unremittingly on the socialist road,” Xi draws attention to the important political events in the two countries this year, noting the commencement of China’s 15th Five Year Plan and the Workers’ Party of Korea’s convening of its ninth congress.
Looking forward, he suggests that China and the DPRK should:
- Deepen strategic communication and firmly grasp the correct direction for the development of China-DPRK relations. “We must maintain the fine tradition of high-level exchanges between the two parties and two countries, visiting often and meeting each other like relatives.”
- Strengthen exchanges and mutual learning and jointly push forward the steady and sustained advance of the two countries’ socialist cause. “We must hold firm to the path and be unchanged in our resolve, support each other in walking the socialist road that suits our own national conditions… firmly safeguard the political security of both countries… and lead the socialist cause of the two countries to keep moving from one victory to the next.”
- Strengthen the alignment of the two countries’ development strategies, tap cooperation potential in all fields, share opportunities, and jointly promote development, so as to better benefit the people of both countries. “Through flexible and varied forms, we must keep friendly exchanges active, deepen mutual understanding, tighten emotional bonds, and pass the baton of China-DPRK friendship from generation to generation.”
- Oppose hegemonism and power politics and oppose all schemes and acts that seek to revive militarism and that endanger regional security and stability… and join hands to push forward the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.
In conclusion, Xi states that, “We stand ready to forge ahead and write a new chapter together with our DPRK comrades, so that the traditional China-DPRK friendship will shine with an even more brilliant contemporary lustre and make a greater contribution to promoting peace, stability, development, and prosperity in the region and indeed across the world.”
Also on June 8, Rodong Sinmun carried an editorial welcoming the “goodwill mission of the Chinese people” headed by Xi.
It says that the visit, “serves as support and encouragement to our Party and people in the struggle for the comprehensive development of socialism.”
It writes that the relations between the DPRK and China, “are the invincible friendly relations closely united with comradely friendship and bloody ties in the protracted struggle to oppose foreign aggressors and build socialism.
“True to the intention of the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung, the Korean revolutionaries helped the Chinese revolution with blood in the arduous anti-Japanese struggle. The Chinese people, too, regarded the Korean revolutionaries fighting for the national liberation as their own flesh and blood and rendered material and moral assistance to the Korean people in their struggle.
“The brilliant victories won by the Chinese people in the arduous revolutionary civil war and by the Korean people in the fierce Fatherland Liberation War would have been unthinkable without the fraternal friendship and class ties which have been steadily carried forward and consolidated between the revolutionaries, service personnel and peoples of the two countries.”
It concludes by stating that: “The Korean people sincerely hope that the Chinese people will achieve greater successes in the struggle for comprehensively building a modern and powerful socialist country, rallied close around the Communist Party of China with Comrade Xi Jinping as its core, and firmly defend the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and interests for development.
“We will, in the future, too, join hands with the Chinese comrades on the road of advancing the socialist cause and defending peace and security in the region and the rest of the world.”
The following articles were originally published by the Xinhua News Agency and the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The former was published in Chinese and has been machine translated and sub-edited.
We also embed a video from China’s CGTN’s World Insight programme, in which Zheng Jiyong, Dean of the Institute of Regional Studies at Tianjin Foreign Studies University and a longtime scholar of China-DPRK relations gives his views on the significance of Xi’s visit, referring extensively to the Chinese leader’s Rodong Sinmun article.
Carrying Forward the Past and Opening the Future, Forging Ahead Together – Writing a New Chapter in the Traditional China-DPRK Friendship
By Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and President of the People’s Republic of China
This year marks the 65th anniversary of the signing of the China-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance. At the invitation of Comrade Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and President of the State Affairs of the DPRK, I will soon pay a state visit to the DPRK. This will be my first visit to the beautiful DPRK after an interval of seven years. I look forward to discussing with General Secretary Kim Jong Un the traditional China-DPRK friendship and jointly mapping out the major plans for the development of China-DPRK relations.
China and the DPRK are friendly socialist neighbours that watch over and help each other and share a common destiny. The traditional China-DPRK friendship is the shared precious treasure of the two parties, the two countries, and the people of the two countries. No matter how the times change or how the international situation shifts, the traditional China-DPRK friendship has always been unbreakable and grows stronger over time, continually radiating vibrant vitality.
Top-level strategic guidance is the greatest advantage of China-DPRK relations. Historically, the older generation of leaders of China and the DPRK knew one another intimately and were as close as can be. In recent years, I have met with General Secretary Kim Jong Un six times, maintained close strategic communication, and jointly drawn up the blueprint for the development of China-DPRK relations. I am firmly convinced that with the highest leaders at the helm steering the ship of China-DPRK relations, it will surely ride the waves and forge bravely ahead.
The shared socialist ideal is the defining character of China-DPRK relations. The Communist Party of China and the Workers’ Party of Korea are both Marxist ruling parties, and China and the DPRK are fellow travellers on the socialist road. I firmly believe that as the two parties and two countries join hands to push forward each side’s party and state cause and continue to strengthen pragmatic exchanges and cooperation, this will powerfully promote national prosperity and strength and the happiness and well-being of the people and will continuously demonstrate the marked advantages and bright prospects of socialism.
The traditional friendship of shared destiny is the deep foundation of China-DPRK relations. In the turbulent years of fighting for national independence and national liberation, the people of China and the DPRK shared weal and woe, depended on each other in life and death, and forged a great fighting friendship with their blood. In the development of each country’s socialist cause, the two peoples have stood shoulder to shoulder, sharing comforts and hardships, vividly embodying the comradely friendship of mutual trust, solidarity, and mutual aid. I firmly believe that the traditional China-DPRK friendship, tested through changes of era and shifting international winds and clouds, will be passed on like a torch from one generation to the next and will endure forever.
High-level strategic coordination is the contemporary substance of China-DPRK relations. Promoting long-term peace and stability in the region and peace and stability in the world is the shared pursuit of the two parties, the two countries, and the people of the two countries. The two sides firmly support each other in safeguarding their national sovereignty, security, and development interests, and jointly safeguard regional peace and tranquillity, international fairness and justice, and the post-war international order. I firmly believe that as China and the DPRK continue to deepen their strategic coordination, they will surely walk together along the right path for humanity of peaceful development and win-win cooperation.
In recent years, in the face of accelerating once-in-a-century changes in the world and an international situation entangled by change and turbulence, China and the DPRK have insisted on concentrating their energies on managing their own affairs well, forging ahead and striving unremittingly on the socialist road. China has achieved a good start to the 15th Five-Year Plan and is striving to open up a new horizon for the building of Chinese modernisation, marching with great strides toward the Second Centenary Goal. The Workers’ Party of Korea successfully held its Ninth Congress, made strategic plans and major arrangements for the development of the DPRK’s party and state cause, and ushered in a new period of comprehensive socialist development.
To maintain, consolidate, and develop China-DPRK relations has always been the unwavering policy of the Chinese Party and government. At present, China-DPRK relations stand at a new historical starting point, face new development opportunities, and must undertake new contemporary missions. China is willing to work with the DPRK to grasp China-DPRK relations from a strategic height and to push China-DPRK relations to advance with the times and achieve greater development. To this end, we should:
- Deepen strategic communication and firmly grasp the correct direction for the development of China-DPRK relations. We must maintain the fine tradition of high-level exchanges between the two parties and two countries, visiting often and meeting each other like relatives. Taking the 65th anniversary of the signing of the China-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance as an opportunity, we must strengthen communication and exchanges among all sectors and at all levels of the party, government, and military; implement well the important consensus reached by the two sides; and inject powerful momentum into the development of China-DPRK relations.
- Strengthen exchanges and mutual learning and jointly push forward the steady and sustained advance of the two countries’ socialist cause. We must hold firm to the path and be unchanged in our resolve, support each other in walking the socialist road that suits our own national conditions, and firmly safeguard the political security of both countries. We must uphold and strengthen the Party’s overall leadership, expand exchanges and cooperation between the two parties, deepen the exchange and mutual learning of experience in governing the party and the country, and lead the socialist cause of the two countries to keep moving from one victory to the next.
- Expand pragmatic cooperation and continuously enhance the well-being and friendship of the two peoples. We must strengthen the alignment of the two countries’ development strategies, tap cooperation potential in all fields, share opportunities, and jointly promote development, so as to better benefit the people of both countries. Through flexible and varied forms, we must keep friendly exchanges active, deepen mutual understanding, tighten emotional bonds, and pass the baton of China-DPRK friendship from generation to generation.
- Step up multilateral coordination and firmly defend international fairness and justice. We must follow the trend of the times and strengthen strategic communication and coordinated cooperation. We must jointly safeguard the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law, oppose hegemonism and power politics, and oppose all schemes and acts that seek to revive militarism and that endanger regional security and stability. We must jointly advance equal and orderly world multipolarity and inclusive economic globalisation that benefits all, implement the four major global initiatives, and join hands to push forward the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.
The passage of time tempers us together, and fierce fire produces true gold. We stand ready to forge ahead and write a new chapter together with our DPRK comrades, so that the traditional China-DPRK friendship will shine with an even more brilliant contemporary lustre and make a greater contribution to promoting peace, stability, development, and prosperity in the region and indeed across the world.
Rodong Sinmun Warmly Welcomes Goodwill Mission of Chinese People
Pyongyang, June 8 (KCNA) — Rodong Sinmun Monday in an editorial says that the Korean people ardently welcome Comrade Xi Jinping visiting the DPRK again with the feelings of warm friendship of the fraternal Chinese people.
Xi Jinping’s visit to the DPRK marks a significant occasion in strikingly demonstrating the invincibility and vitality of the DPRK-China friendship growing stronger day by day under the deep care of the top leaders of the two parties and the two countries and serves as support and encouragement to our Party and people in the struggle for the comprehensive development of socialism, the editorial says, and goes on:
The DPRK-China relations are the invincible friendly relations closely united with comradely friendship and bloody ties in the protracted struggle to oppose foreign aggressors and build socialism.
True to the intention of the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung, the Korean revolutionaries helped the Chinese revolution with blood in the arduous anti-Japanese struggle. The Chinese people, too, regarded the Korean revolutionaries fighting for the national liberation as their own flesh and blood and rendered material and moral assistance to the Korean people in their struggle.
The brilliant victories won by the Chinese people in the arduous revolutionary civil war and by the Korean people in the fierce Fatherland Liberation War would have been unthinkable without the fraternal friendship and class ties which have been steadily carried forward and consolidated between the revolutionaries, service personnel and peoples of the two countries.
Thanks to the strategic guidance of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un and Comrade Xi Jinping, the communication between the two parties and two countries and friendship and unity between the peoples of the two countries have been further strengthened, and thus the DPRK-China relations are developing into more solid friendly relations.
It is the unshakable will and stand of our Party, government and people to steadily develop the DPRK-China friendly relationship with socialism as its core.
The Korean people sincerely hope that the Chinese people will achieve greater successes in the struggle for comprehensively building a modern and powerful socialist country, rallied close around the Communist Party of China with Comrade Xi Jinping as its core, and firmly defend the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and interests for development.
We will, in the future, too, join hands with the Chinese comrades on the road of advancing the socialist cause and defending peace and security in the region and the rest of the world.
