China slams US for putting pressure on North Korea as it vows to deepen ties with Pyongyang
Pyongyang, North Korea - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday slammed the Trump administration for exerting pressure on North Korea and vowed to deepen Beijing's ties to Pyongyang.
Wang Yi told a banquet at the Kumsusan State Guesthouse in Pyongyang on Thursday that North Korea had made "new achievements in socialist construction."
He declared that the country's successes had come despite "intensifying schemes of isolation and strangulation" from the US and other Western powers, North Korea's state news agency reported.
The two-day official visit by Wang, his first since 2019, comes shortly after the two East Asian countries resumed transport links that had been halted since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Beijing is North Korea's top trading partner and a vital source of diplomatic, economic, and political support for the nation.
It is also a key ally in Pyongyang's attempts to push back against the US, which has for decades led efforts to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program.
North Korea vows support for one-China principle
Wang told North Korea's Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui on Thursday that China was "willing to work with the DPRK… to strengthen strategic communication," according to a press release put out by China's Foreign Ministry.
"China and the DPRK, as good neighbors, good friends, and good comrades, have always trusted and supported each other, making unremitting efforts to maintain regional and global peace and stability and promote their respective development," he said.
Choe also took a swipe at the US by telling Wang that "North Korea fully supports the one-China principle, resolutely opposes any interference in China's internal affairs, firmly supports China's position on safeguarding its sovereignty and territorial integrity."
"The friendship between North Korea and China is based on a shared socialist system and a tradition of friendship, and the relationship between the two countries is profound, solid, and sustainable," she said.
Cover photo: Collage: AFP/KCNA via KNS
