Beijing and Pyongyang toast their friendly relations
Beijing and Pyongyang toast their friendly relations
BEIJING (AP): China and North Korea toasted their longtime alliance with parties marking the 36th anniversary of a treaty between the socialist neighbors, official reports said yesterday.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, China has been North Korea's principal ally, providing shipments of weapons, food and fuel to its increasingly impoverished and isolated neighbor.
Chinese Ambassador Wang Yongxiang threw a party in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, Friday to mark the anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, the North Korean news agency KCNA reported.
Song Pong Hwan, acting charge d'affaires for the North Korean Embassy in Beijing, hosted a similar banquet Friday attended by senior Chinese officials, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
China places great importance on friendship with North Korea, Buhe, vice chairman of China's legislature, the National People's Congress, was quoted as saying.
In an indication that the North commands a less significant status in Beijing's eyes than in the past, however, the very top echelon of Chinese leadership did not attend Song's party.
Beijing has in recent years strengthened its economic and diplomatic ties with rival South Korea, hoping to draw more trade and investment. However, it has sought to retain its influence with the North.
China fought on the side of the Communist North during its 1950-1953 war with the capitalist South.
In addition to their longtime treaty, China and North Korea signed an agreement for military aid in May 1996, the Japanese news agency Kyodo News Service reported yesterday, citing China Foreign Policy 1997, a book recently published by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Kyodo cited a brief reference to an agreement signed May 21, 1996, that obliges Beijing to provide economic and military aid to North Korea. The agreement had not previously been reported.
Their offices closed for the weekend, Foreign Ministry officials were not available for comment on the report.