China's Top-Level Pyongyang Visit Meets a North Korea With New Options

Wang Huning, China's fourth-highest-ranked official, began a three-day Pyongyang visit on July 15, 2026, to implement Xi Jinping's June summit agreements with Kim Jong Un. The summit followed a strategic defence pact between North Korea and Russia — which deployed thousands of North Korean troops to Ukraine — giving Pyongyang a second major-power partner and potentially loosening its dependence on Beijing, its largest economic partner.