Vice-President's North Korea trip shows Pyongyang still key partner
Vice-President's visit comes amid concern among some party officials that Beijing was too tough on Pyongyang for its nuclear test
Vice-President Li Yuanchao sets off for North Korea today to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Korean war in a visit that analysts say shows Beijing still regards Pyongyang as a close partner.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement yesterday that Li would begin his visit to Pyongyang today and end it on Sunday.
Li, who narrowly missed a spot on the Politburo's supreme Standing Committee last year, is the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit North Korea since Kim Jong-un succeeded his father as leader of the impoverished country in December 2011.
Li will attend events marking the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean war, in which China fought on Pyongyang's side against forces led by the US.
Hong's statement did not say whether Li would meet top North Korean leaders, but observers expect that a meeting with Kim is likely to take place.
Chinese state-media ran extensive commentaries of the 1950-53 conflict yesterday, saying Beijing's assistance to Pyongyang had contributed to peace in the region for six decades.
"China was fighting for peace and defending the nations," wrote Qian Lihua, a former director of the Ministry of National Defence's foreign affairs office, in the overseas edition of the People's Daily. "However, 60 years after the war, there is still no real peace.