North Korea is gaining in strategic importance for China to counter the United States, but Pyongyang may refrain from intensifying military ties with Beijing, analysts say.

During his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said both sides should “enhance exchanges in diplomacy, law enforcement and military affairs”, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Despite pledges from both sides to strengthen strategic communications, denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula was not included in their statements on the meeting, a sharp contrast with Xi’s previous visit in 2019.

Also in a departure from their previous summits, Xi and Kim were accompanied by their defence ministers, Dong Jun and No Kwang-chol. It is the first time since 1992 that a Chinese defence minister has accompanied a Chinese president to North Korea.

It is also the first known case of a senior Chinese defence official visiting the country since Miao Hua, then-director of the Chinese Central Military Commission’s Political Work Department, visited in 2019.

While a Chinese military delegation reportedly travelled to North Korea for the first time in six years in October last year, the level of the delegation was not revealed. The prominence given to military matters this week was an addition to the traditional priorities of economic and diplomatic affairs.

However, North Korea’s state media did not include Xi’s remarks on increasing military exchanges between the two countries, despite extensive coverage of the Chinese president’s visit.