BEIJING, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Chinese top leader Xi Jinping's two-day state visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is of great significance for not only the development of bilateral relations in a new era, but also advancing the political settlement process of the Korean Peninsula issue and safeguarding peace and stability in the region, experts have said.
Xi's DPRK visit as general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chinese president is the first of its kind in 14 years. The visit, which coincides with the 70th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between the two countries, will consolidate and promote the China-DPRK friendship, said Tran Van Luat, former ambassador of Vietnam to China.
Experts also said the visit demonstrated both sides' determination to push for a political solution to the Korean Peninsula issue.
Xi's visit contributed to lasting peace and stability in the peninsula as well as in the region, said Lee Hee-ok, professor of political science at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul and head of the Sungkyun Institute of China Studies.
Similarly, Liu Di, a professor at Kyorin University in Tokyo, said he believes that the visit will help promote peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and even in East Asia.
Xi's remarks, saying the international community hopes that talks between the DPRK and the United States will move forward and bear fruit, reaffirmed China's consistent support for dialogue and consultation in solving the Korean Peninsula issue, said Liu.
Xi's visit showed again China's active and constructive role in Korean Peninsula affairs, he said.
Direction matters more than speed in solving the peninsula issue, said Konstantin Asmolov, a leading researcher at the Center for Korean Studies of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noting that countries including China and the DPRK are actively pushing forward the process of a political settlement of the issue.
Douglas Paal, vice president for studies and director of the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the visit at the 70th anniversary of establishing bilateral ties showed that China attaches great importance to relations between the two countries.
The visit does reflect the solid relations between China and the DPRK, as well as China's critical role in solving the peninsula issue, said Duncan Freeman, a research fellow at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium.
"Obviously China has an extremely important role to play as a major country, as a major security actor," he said.
Bertrand Badie, an international relations specialist at Science Po., or the Paris Institute of Political Studies, agreed, saying China has been playing a key role in solving the peninsula issue, and the visit will help alleviate tension in the region.
This visit also showed China's willingness to promote stability in the peninsula as a responsible major country in the international community, said Yu Jie, a senior researcher at the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
