China tells North Korea it fully backs summits with Seoul, US

Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi told North Korea’s foreign minister on Tuesday that Beijing supports the North’s planned summits with South Korea and the United States.

The Foreign Ministry cited Wang, China’s state councillor and foreign minister, as telling Ri Yong-ho at a meeting in Beijing that China appreciated North Korea’s efforts to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The ministry described Ri as saying that North Korea would maintain close strategic communications with China as outlined at last week’s surprise meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong-un.

Kim’s visit to China made clear that Beijing, North Korea’s only major ally and chief provider of energy and trade that keeps the country’s broken economy afloat, will have a major role in any effort to rein in the North’s nuclear programme.

Wang told reporters earlier on Tuesday that China hoped a planned meeting between North Korea and the US would be able to avoid “disruptive factors” and stick to the pursuit of dialogue between Kim and US President Donald Trump.