China

China, DPRK enhance ties

By Bao Daozu (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-25 07:55

Beijing military officials visit DPRK amid a series of high-level meetings

BEIJING - Chinese military officials on Sunday expressed their firm resolve to continue advancing their longtime friendship with Pyongyang in commemoration of Chinese soldiers who gave their lives during the Korean War.

Guo Boxiong, vice-chairman of China's Central Military Commission, led the military delegation on Sunday to lay a wreath at the martyrs cemetery of Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) 100 km east of Pyongyang.

"To review the past is to focus on the future. China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) should join hands to further develop the long-lasting friendship and contribute to the prosperity of both countries and the world," Guo said.

The Chinese military delegation is on a four-day official visit to Pyongyang for a series of celebrations on the 60th anniversary of the entry of the CPV into the Korean War front.

Guo was received by a number of national and military leaders of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, including Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK.

The visit is the latest amid a score of such meetings in recent months between high-level officials of China and the DPRK.

The delegation also enjoyed the Arirang performance on Saturday night - a mass gymnastic and artistic show with some 100,000 performers, showcasing the achievements made by the DPRK people in their socialist construction.

Beijing and Pyongyang have forged traditional ties that date back decades. The CPV entered the DPRK on Oct 25, 1950, four months after the Korean War broke out.

In addition, the past month has witnessed high-level exchanges and increased cultural activities at an unprecedented level.

Zhou Yongkang, a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), for instance, paid a goodwill visit as guest of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee in early October.

Later in Beijing, Zhou received a DPRK delegation composed of provincial and municipal officers.

Different art troupes and women's groups, meanwhile, are on frequent exchange visits to deepen bilateral ties.

Relations, thus, have "stood the test of changes in the international arena and developed further in the new century", said Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie at a commemoration reception on Friday at the DPRK embassy in Beijing.

The growing interactions between the two countries are - in no small part - out of respective security concerns, according to Huang Youfu, director of the Institute of Korean Studies at the Central University for Nationalities.

The DPRK "is crucial in China's peripheral diplomacy, as the US is more deeply involved in Asian affairs and has strengthened its alliance with Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK)," said Huang.

"And Pyongyang is getting even more isolated after the Cheonon incident, since aid from the ROK became intangible," Huang added.

Clearly the relations are important not only because of historical implications, but also because of strategic significance, Huang said.

He Wei and Xinhua contributed to this story.

China Daily