The US and its allies believe Beijing should do more to rein in Pyongyang but Kim Jong-un’s recent nuclear and missile tests have coincided with a near-total breakdown of high-level diplomacy between the two.
China, Pyongyang’s sole major ally, said it would observe UN Security Council sanctions banning imports of coal, textiles and seafood, while cutting off oil shipments to the North. China accounts for more than 90 percent of world trade with the isolated country.
Guo Yezhou, a deputy head of the Chinese Communist Party’s international department, told reporters on the sidelines of a party congress that its exchanges, communication and dialogue with the North’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea were continuing.
He said: “China and North Korea are neighbours and the two have a traditional friendly co-operative relationship.”
He said maintaining, developing and consolidating those ties not only accord with both sides’ interests, they also have “important meaning” for regional peace and stability.
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And he stressed exchanges between the two parties play an important role in developing overall China-North Korea relations.
Mr Guo said: “Our party and the Workers’ Party of Korea have traditional friendly exchanges.
“When and at what level these exchanges happen depend on both sides need and both sides’ convenience.”
North Korea has congratulated China on its 19th Communist Party Congress despite the increasingly frayed relationships.
Though China has been angered by North Korea’s repeated nuclear and missile tests and demanded they stop, Beijing also sees the US and South Korea sharing responsibility for rising tensions with their military drills.
North Korea is likely to be at high on the agenda when US President Donald Trump visits China next month for talks with President Xi Jinping.