Xi writes in North Korean state paper ahead of Pyongyang visit, vows to pursue 'multipolar world' with Kim

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Monday he would work with North Korea to advance a "multipolar world" through strategic communication and coordination, ahead of his first visit to Pyongyang in seven years.

In an op-ed published on the front page of Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, Xi said the two countries must "strengthen strategic communication and coordination in keeping with the trends of the times" and jointly uphold an international order based on the UN-centered system and international law.

Xi said the two sides must "oppose hegemonism and power politics" and resist "all ambitions and schemes that seek to revive militarism and harm regional security and stability." He called for jointly advancing "an equal and orderly multipolar world and universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization."

The "multipolar world" formulation is a cornerstone of China's foreign policy aimed at challenging American global dominance. The reference to "reviving militarism" and threatening regional stability appears directed at Japan, which has recently revised its pacifist constitution and significantly increased its defense budget. China has repeatedly criticized Japan's military buildup, both directly and through the UN.

Xi also urged the two countries to "put into practice the four global initiatives and jointly advance the building of a community with a shared future for mankind."

The "four global initiatives" is understood to be the North Korean rendering of four frameworks Xi has championed since the 2020s: the Global Security Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative and the Global Governance Initiative.

On bilateral ties, Xi said the traditional friendship between China and North Korea "will always remain invincible, no matter how times change or how the international situation evolves." Citing his six previous meetings with Kim Jong-un, Xi said "the strategic guidance at the highest level is the greatest advantage of China-North Korea relations," adding that with top leaders "setting the direction and holding the helm, the great ship of China-North Korea relations will surely brave the wind and waves and forge ahead."

Xi said "high-level strategic coordination embodies the significance of China-North Korea relations for the times" and called on both sides to "firmly support each other in safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests" while jointly upholding regional peace, international fairness and justice, and the postwar international order.

The op-ed made no direct mention of inter-Korean relations, denuclearization or the Korean Peninsula. Xi did, however, include an indirect passage, saying the two countries should "support each other in following the path of socialism suited to their own national conditions, thereby firmly safeguarding the political security of both countries."

Some analysts say the remark amounts to an indirect endorsement of North Korea's accelerating nuclear buildup and its hostile "two-state" policy toward South Korea. Xi also refrained from publicly using the word "denuclearization" at last month's US-China summit — a deliberate omission, some analysts said at the time. A White House fact sheet released after that summit stated that the two leaders "reaffirmed the shared goal of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," but North Korea pushed back on Saturday, with Kim Yo-jong, vice director of the Workers' Party, calling the US claim "a complete fabrication." From the summit to North Korea's rebuttal, China's silence has effectively lent Pyongyang a degree of support while maintaining strategic ambiguity.

Xi also signaled plans to strengthen military cooperation, citing the 65th anniversary of the Sino-North Korean Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, which falls on July 11. The treaty commits each country to provide military assistance if the other is attacked.

Xi said the two sides would mark the anniversary by deepening communication and exchanges "among the parties, governments and militaries at various levels and in various fields" and by faithfully implementing key shared understandings, injecting "powerful momentum into the development of China-North Korea relations." He also referenced China's 15th Five-Year Plan and North Korea's recently concluded Ninth Party Congress, calling on both sides to align their development strategies, tap cooperation potential across sectors and share opportunities for mutual benefit — signaling a willingness to expand economic cooperation, which is widely seen as one of Pyongyang's top priorities for the talks.

Xi is on a two-day state visit to Pyongyang through Tuesday. It is his first trip to North Korea since June 20-21, 2019. Xi and Kim last met in Beijing on Sept. 3 last year, on the occasion of China's Victory Day.