Meeting facilitates denuclearization efforts

The unofficial visit of Kim Jong-un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, to China to meet with President Xi Jinping before his planned meeting with US President Donald Trump in May is, needless to say, of very special significance. The efforts to strengthen China-DPRK traditional friendship have been highly anticipated, as the two neighbors share a 1,300-kilometer-long border and have proved to be a "community of shared destiny" through the Sino-Japan War (1894-1895) and the Korean War (1950-53) to the present times.

As two key players in Northeast Asian geopolitics, both want peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

On March 8, Trump told a Republic of Korea official that he was willing to meet with Kim, which, along with an anticipated Pyongyang-Seoul summit at the end of April, has eased the tensions on the Korean Peninsula, and could create more opportunities for the DPRK and the ROK, as well as other regional countries.