Has Xi Jinping’s North Korea visit helped cement China’s vital role?

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to North Korea may have helped cement China’s “indispensable” role in ensuring regional stability and highlighted its importance to his host’s economy, analysts said.The Chinese president wrapped up his visit on Tuesday afternoon after reaching what he said was a “critical consensus” with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.Xi told a lunch at the Kumsusan State Guest House that he was ready to work with Kim to to “jointly guide China-North Korea relations towards greater development, injecting new and powerful momentum into the socialist causes of both countries”.He said the pair had reached agreement on “developing China-North Korea relations in the new era” and “exchanged in-depth views on maintaining regional and global peace and stability”, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.Meanwhile, Kim said the visit had sent a clear signal to the world about their closer alignment.Earlier that day, the two leaders visited the newly built campus of the Central Cadres Training School of the Workers’ Party of Korea – the top academy for officials – and laid a floral tribute at the China-north-korea-friendship-tower" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="143208" data-entity-type="location">China-North Korea Friendship Tower, which honours the Chinese troops who fought in the Korean War.