Chinese President Hu Jintao congratulates Kim Jong Un on military promotion

Hu Jintao, China's president, extended his official congratulations to North Korea's new leader Kim Jong Un on his promotion to supreme military leader. 

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President Hu's message was China's most overt show of support of Kim, who is succeeding his father as leader of North Korea. Kim's appointment to the position of supreme commander of its 1.2 million-strong army was announced earlier in the day Saturday, two days after the mourning period for his father had ended, Reuters reported. 

President Hu also made visited North Korea's embassy in Beijing to offer his condolences on Kim Jong Il's death, a rare move, Reuters reported. 

China is North Korea's only major ally, and sees Kim Jong Un's highly isolated country as as a barrier against the United States and its regional allies. Hu has openly made preserving its influence in the North a foreign policy priority, according to Reuters. 

Bilateral trade between China and North Korea reached $2.79 billion in 2008, up 41.3 percent compared to 2007, according to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). 

"There is a deep tradition of friendship between the peoples and the military forces of China and North Korea," Hu said in his official statement."The traditional friendly cooperation between China and North Korea is sure to constantly consolidate and strengthen."

North Korea is also highly dependent on China: by some estimates, China provides 80 percent of North Korea's consumer goods and 45 percent of its food, according to the CFR.

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