The opening of a long-delayed bridge linking China and North Korea underscores the deepening ties between the two neighbours as Pyongyang courts both Beijing and Moscow to ease its economic isolation.

China’s official Xinhua news agency said a launch ceremony was held on Thursday for the New Yalu River Bridge, which connects the northeastern Chinese city of Dandong with the North Korean border city of Sinuiju.

Video from state media showed trucks decorated with the national flags of both countries lined up on the four-lane span, which itself was festooned with Chinese and North Korean flags.

In a video address, Chinese Premier Li Qiang hailed the bridge as a “new landmark” of the countries’ “traditional friendship” and urged both sides to use the opening to deepen connectivity and explore new cooperation in border areas, Xinhua reported. North Korean Premier Pak Thae Song also delivered a video message.

The 3km (1.8-mile) road bridge is expected to ease pressure on the ageing Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, a decades-old structure on the same route that carries a railway line and vehicles but can accommodate only one-way traffic at a time.

More than 70 percent of official trade between the two countries currently goes through that crossing, according to Chinese data. The South Korean government has counted at least 17 active road and rail links along the 1,400km (870-mile) North Korea-China border.