The US has for decades led efforts to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear programme, but summits, sanctions and diplomatic pressure have had little impact.

Beijing is North Korea’s top trading partner and a vital source of diplomatic, economic and political support for the secretive nation.

Wang Yi told a banquet at the Kumsusan State Guesthouse on Thursday that Pyongyang had made “new achievements in socialist construction”, despite what he described as “intensifying schemes of isolation and strangulation” from the US and Western powers, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

The two-day official visit by Wang — his first since 2019 — comes shortly after the neighbours resumed transport links that had been halted since the Covid-19 pandemic.

He told North Korea’s foreign minister Choe Son Hui on Thursday that China was “willing to work with North Korea” to “enhance dialogue and practical cooperation at all levels and across various fields, (and) deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges,” according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

The visit comes as the administration of US President Donald Trump mounts a push to revive high-level talks with Pyongyang, eyeing a potential summit this year, potentially during Trump’s visit to Beijing in May.

Choe said it was Pyongyang’s “consistent policy” to maintain friendly relations with Beijing, which have “overcome all kinds of historical storms and carried on a great tradition of unity and cooperation with socialism as their core”.