Xi Offers N Korea A Plan For Regional Stability

Xi Jinping will burnish China's fragile alliance with North Korea by making his first trip to Pyongyang as president this week – and on Wednesday he sealed their friendship in ink, offering a "grand plan" for regional stability.

Xi, who will be the first Chinese president to visit Pyongyang in 14 years, penned a rare front-page opinion piece in North Korea's official newspaper, touting their "irreplaceable" bond on the eve of this two-day trip.

In the opinion piece in the Rodong Sinmun – the official mouthpiece of the North's ruling Workers' Party – Xi said Beijing was willing to draw up a "grand plan" with Pyongyang to achieve permanent stability in East Asia.

He also vowed that Beijing would play an active role in "strengthening communication and coordination with North Korea and other relevant parties" to push forward negotiations on the Korean Peninsula.

At subway stations in Pyongyang, commuters crowded around newsstands to read Xi's article.

It appeared on page one of the Rodong Sinmun, in the bottom right-hand corner. The whole of the top half of the front page was devoted to an editorial calling on citizens to uphold the works of Kim's father and predecessor Kim Jong-il in building up the Workers' Party.

"This op-ed is an extremely unusual event," said Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean defector and researcher in Seoul.

"For Kim, he needed a public endorsement from Xi, so that he could tell his people that 'look, someone as powerful as Xi has our back'," said Ahn.

Hu Jintao was the last Chinese president to visit Pyongyang in 2005, when he met Kim's father, Kim Jong-il. (AFP)