President Xi Jinping vowed to expand China’s trade, agriculture and technology cooperation with North Korea, while avoiding public mentions of its neighbor’s nuclear program in a meeting with Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang.

In comments made Monday in the North Korean capital, Xi pledged “unwavering support” for Kim, saying China is ready to “expand practical cooperation in areas including economy and trade, agriculture, construction, science and technology, and medical and health care,” according to China’s state news agency Xinhua.

He also called on both sides to strengthen exchanges in diplomacy, law enforcement and the military, as well as promote tourism and travel.

Hours earlier, Xi arrived in Pyongyang to an elaborate welcome on his first visit to the reclusive nation in seven years. It’s also the Chinese leader’s first trip abroad this year, coming just weeks after he hosted U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in back-to-back summits.

The two-day visit is part of Beijing’s effort to reassert influence over an emboldened Pyongyang, which has drastically expanded its nuclear arsenal and drawn closer to Moscow.

A day before Xi’s trip, Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, said the country’s atomic weapons program was “absolutely non-negotiable” and that “officials in the United States have failed to wake from their escapist and anachronistic dreams.”

The Xinhua readout of the meeting made no mention of eliminating nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula — a goal China had maintained publicly for years. That language has been missing from official Chinese statements since Kim’s visit to Beijing last September, prompting speculation that China has now tacitly accepted North Korea as a de facto nuclear power.

“China now views substantial progress toward North Korean denuclearization as unrealistic for the foreseeable future,” said Tong Zhao, a senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“Combined with Beijing’s overriding focus on strategic competition with Washington, this reassessment has lowered the priority of the North Korean nuclear issue in China’s foreign policy agenda.”

Instead of publicly pressing Kim on denuclearization, Xi used his meeting to reassert Beijing’s traditional status as Pyongyang’s most important political patron and economic lifeline — even as North Korea’s deepening alliance with Russia has provided it new diplomatic leverage.

On a visit to Pyongyang in 2024, Putin signed a comprehensive partnership agreement with Kim that included a mutual defense pact committing both sides to provide military assistance in times of war. Soon after, North Korea dispatched troops and ammunition to help Russia with its war on Ukraine, likely gaining access to military technology and economic help in return.

Highlighting the traditional friendship between the two communist regimes, Xi told Kim that no matter how the international landscape changes, China’s backing for Kim’s leadership in advancing the North Korean socialist cause will remain unchanged, vowing to “safeguard common interests and a favorable strategic environment of both sides.”

Pyongyang hasn’t yet released its readout of the meeting. In comments quoted by Xinhua, Kim called Xi “the most respected, distinguished guest of the Korean people” and hailed bilateral relations as “unbreakable.”

Kim and his wife, Ri Sol Ju, personally greeted Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan as they arrived around noon in Pyongyang. The leaders then proceeded along streets lined by crowds to Kim Il Sung Square for a formal welcoming ceremony featuring a 21-gun salute, honor guards and jumping children waving flags and balloons.

The itinerary of the visit included a welcoming banquet hosted by Kim on Monday evening, China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported.

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