Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese president, kicked off a two-day state visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on June 8 at the invitation of Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK.

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This marks Xi's first state visit to the DPRK in seven years. During the visit, the top leaders of the two parties and the two countries exchanged views on bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest, to enrich the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK with new features of the era.

The traditional friendship between China and the DPRK was forged by the elder generation of leaders of the two parties and two countries, cemented in the revolutionary struggle, and continuously deepened in the course of socialist construction.

In October 1949, China and the DPRK formally established diplomatic relations, opening a new chapter in bilateral ties with epoch-making significance. Over the past 77 years, the two countries have supported each other in consolidating people's power and safeguarding national sovereignty, strengthening exchanges and cooperation and advancing socialist construction. They have also worked closely to promote regional peace and stability and safeguard international equity and justice.

Having withstood the tests of changing times and shifting international circumstances, the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK has become a shared valuable asset for both countries and peoples. Under new conditions and in a new era, strengthening strategic communication and deepening friendly cooperation will jointly promote the steady and sustained advancement of the socialist causes of both countries and better benefit their peoples.

During the development of China-DPRK relations, the strategic guidance of top leaders of the two parties and the two countries is the greatest strength of China-DPRK relations. Xi attaches great importance to the development of China-DPRK relations. In recent years, he has met with Kim multiple times and maintained close communication through letters and messages, providing strategic guidance for the development of relations between the two parties and countries.

Last year, Xi held talks in Beijing with Kim, who was on a visit to China to attend the commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

The two leaders reached an important consensus on overall, strategic, and directional issues concerning bilateral relations, providing significant strategic guidance for the future development of China-DPRK relations. This meeting has ushered the bilateral ties into a new stage.

Under the strategic guidance of the two leaders, the traditional friendly cooperative relationship between China and the DPRK has maintained sound and steady growth, and delivered tangible benefits for both countries and peoples.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the China-DPRK Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. In 1961, leaders of the elder generation of China and the DPRK made the far-sighted strategic decision to sign the treaty, laying an important political and legal foundation for consolidating the friendship the two peoples had forged with blood and promoting the friendly cooperation for the long run.

Over the past 65 years, China and the DPRK, firmly supporting and working closely with each other in the spirit of the treaty, have continuously deepened the friendly cooperation between the two parties and two countries, advanced the development of respective socialist causes, and safeguarded regional and global peace and stability.

Through strengthened communication, dialogue, coordination, and cooperation, and through firm mutual support in regional and international affairs, China and the DPRK have demonstrated the enduring value and unbreakable nature of their friendship in the new era.

China and the DPRK are good neighbors, good friends and good comrades who have shared weal and woe and helped each other in time of need. No matter how the international landscape evolves, maintaining, consolidating and developing China-DPRK relations has always been an unwavering policy of the CPC and the Chinese government.

This year marks the opening year of China's 15th Five-Year Plan period, and China is building a great modern socialist country in all respects and advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through Chinese modernization.

The DPRK has successfully hosted the Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, achieving new accomplishments in socialist development. China will, as always, support the DPRK in pursuing a development path suited to its national conditions and continuously opening new horizons for its socialist cause.

"Great friendship and shared ideals bind us together as unbreakable strength." As depicted in the song Farewell Korea, also known as the Song of China-DPRK Friendship, the time-honored bond between the two nations grows ever stronger.

Both sides will take this visit as an opportunity to advance China-DPRK relations in step with the times, improve people's well-being in both countries, and contribute more to peace, stability, development and prosperity across the region and the world.