Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met on Thursday in Beijing, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said.

The meeting would cover bilateral ties and issues of mutual concern and “hold significant importance”, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun had told reporters at a regular briefing earlier in the day.

“China stands ready to strengthen strategic communication and enhance exchanges and cooperation with the DPRK, deepen the sharing of governance experience, and advance the respective socialist causes and the traditional friendly cooperative relations between China and the DPRK,” Guo said.

The talks come after a military parade in Beijing on Wednesday, which Kim had attended, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Both were seen walking and talking with Xi during the massive event, which China used as a portrayal of force.

Kim arrived in Beijing on his signature green armoured train on Tuesday, along with his teenage daughter, who made her first public outing overseas.

The North Korean leader had met Putin on Wednesday, vowing “full support” for Russia’s army as a “fraternal duty.”

China, a formal treaty ally of North Korea, is overwhelmingly the isolated nation’s largest trading partner.

North Korea has been under United Nations Security Council sanctions since 2006 over its development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

Kim last visited China in January 2019.