INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
China is North Korea's sole major ally and key trade partner
States, insisting two sides should meet "halfway", state media said Thursday.Kim visited Beijing by train this week for two days of talks
that reasserted China's role in process, and were seen as a strategy session ahead of a second summit between North Korean leader and US
President Donald Trump.At their first meeting in Singapore in June, Kim and Trump signed a vaguely worded document with Kim pledging to work
towards "denuclearisation of Korean peninsula".But progress has since stalled with Pyongyang and Washington -- which stations 28,500 troops
in South Korea -- disagreeing over what that means.North Korea wants relief from multiple sets of sanctions imposed on it over its nuclear
weapons and ballistic missile programmes, while US wants measures to remain in place until it gives up its arms -- something Pyongyang has
made no public promise to do.China also wants sanctions relaxed and Xi said he "hopes that DPRK and United States will meet each other
halfway" according to China's state news agency Xinhua, using initials of North's official name.Xi "spoke highly of positive measures
taken by DPRK side", it added.North Korea has carried out six nuclear blasts and launched missiles capable of reaching whole of United
States, but has carried out no such tests for more than a year, and blew up entrances to a nuclear testing ground it said it no longer
needed.Pyongyang has rejected demands for what it calls its "unilateral" disarmament as "gangster-like".China is North's sole major ally
and key trade partner but relations had deteriorated over Pyongyang's nuclear activities, before warming up last year, with Kim meeting Xi
three times.Kim "raised concern" about impasse in talks with US, according to Pyongyang's official KCNA news agency, which said Chinese
leader had issued a ringing endorsement of North's position."Xi Jinping said that legitimate issues raised by DPRK are rightful demands
and that he fully agrees that DPRK's reasonable interests should be justly resolved," it said.Summit "imminent"Each of previous Kim-Xi
meetings have come shortly before or after North Korean's summits with either Trump or South Korean President Moon Jae-in.Trump said
Sunday US and North Korea were negotiating location of their next summit, a meeting Moon said Thursday was "imminent".Pyongyang needed to
take "bold, practical measures for denuclearisation" to ensure sanctions are lifted, he told reporters, but added that "corresponding
measures" were also needed from US, such as agreeing a "peace regime" and formally declaring an end to 1950-53 Korean War.Moon acknowledged
Singapore agreement was "somewhat vague", and there was "scepticism" over Kim's denuclearisation pledge.But Kim had assured him and other
leaders that his view of denuclearisation was "no different in any way from what international community demands", Moon said, and Pyongyang
would not link it to presence of US forces in South or nearby.Nonetheless a commentary carried by KCNA last month stressed that when
Pyongyang refers to "denuclearisation of Korean peninsula", it includes North, South, and "surrounding areas from where Korean peninsula is
targeted".Birthday banquetWashington and Beijing have competing strategic interests in northeast Asia, and Xinhua said Xi had re-asserted
China's importance in diplomatic process.Beijing stands ready to "play a positive and constructive role in maintaining peace and stability
and realising denuclearisation on peninsula and lasting peace and stability in region", it cited him as saying.Xi greeted Kim at Beijing's
ornate Great Hall of People on Tuesday -- believed to be North Korean leader's birthday -- before hosting a welcome banquet for Kim and
his wife Ri Sol Ju.Kim visited a pharmaceutical plant that makes traditional Chinese medicine on Wednesday and met Xi again for lunch before
heading home.The visit coincided with trade talks between Chinese and US officials
Analysts say China could use North Korean issue as a bargaining chip in negotiations, but Beijing's foreign ministry rejected any link
between Kim's trip and talks.There was a "rare historic opportunity" for a political settlement on peninsula, Xi said according to Xinhua,
and China "supports DPRK and United States holding summits and achieving results".(Except for headline, this story has not been edited by
TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
