US President Donald Trump took a conciliatory tone on Saturday at a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping where the leaders agreed to keep working on two pressing issues: the nuclear threat posed by North Korea and bilateral trade irritants.
Trump campaigned in last year’s presidential election on cracking down on China for its trade practices, but he softened his rhetoric after taking office, saying he wanted to work with China on the nuclear issue.
When the two leaders first met in April at Trump’s Florida resort, they appeared to hit it off. Trump called Xi a “good man” as he urged him to use Beijing’s economic clout to force North Korea to curb its nuclear weapons program.
Lately, Trump has expressed some impatience over China’s role in North Korea – particularly after Pyongyang launched an intercontinental ballistic missile that some experts believe could have the range to reach Alaska and parts of the US West Coast.
His administration has made new arms sales to Taiwan, imposed sanctions on two Chinese citizens and a shipping company and listed China as a global human trafficking offender. It has also accused a Chinese bank of laundering money for Pyongyang.
Furthermore, the White House has mulled debating trade actions against Beijing, including tariffs on its steel exports, and – a few days before the G20 talks –Trump complained that trade between China and North Korea had grown.
But he showed none of that impatience on Saturday, when the leaders met, at the invitation of Xi, at the tail end of the G20 in Germany.
“We will have, eventually, success. It may take longer than I’d like. It may take longer than you’d like. But there will be success in the end one way or the other”
“It’s an honor to have you as a friend,” Trump told Xi, telling him he appreciated actions he had already taken on North Korea. “As far as North Korea is concerned, we will have, eventually, success. It may take longer than I’d like. It may take longer than you’d like. But there will be success in the end one way or the other.”
Speaking to reporters later on Air Force One, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the Trump-Xi meeting lasted over an hour-and-a-half, and that they had “substantive discussions” about how to deal with North Korea together.
“In regards to China, we had very direct discussions about North Korea. We had very direct discussions about military and security cooperation,” Mnuchin said. “I think that President Trump made very clear to President Xi that he is focussed on this issue, and wants to move forward and make progress. And I think President Xi gave a very interesting perspective from their standpoint,” he added.
‘Control the situation’
For his part, Xi told Trump that stronger China-US ties were conducive to stability and prosperity amid global conflicts. According to the state news agency Xinhua, he said he and Trump had made “new progress” in some areas “despite some sensitive issues.”
Xi stressed the importance of talks with North Korea, and said China’s navy will join next year’s US-led Pacific Rim military exercises.
Xinhua said Xi stressed to Trump China’s position that it adheres to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and maintaining peace and stability there.
While China has been angered by North Korea’s repeated nuclear and missile tests, it also blames the United States and South Korea for worsening tension with their military exercises.
“China has many times talked about its principled position, namely that at the same time as the international community is making necessary responses to North Korean acts that go against UN Security Council resolutions, they must step up efforts to promote talks and manage and control the situation,” Xinhua said, citing Xi.
Xi also reiterated China’s opposition to the US deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea, Xinhua said. China says THAAD threatens its security, despite US and South Korean assurances it is aimed only at defending against North Korea.
Both leaders agreed to maintain close communication and coordination on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue, Xinhua said.
Trump also mentioned trade imbalances in his meeting with Xi, calling it a “very, very big issue” that he would address.
“I know that China in particular, which is a great trading partner, we will be able to do something that will be equitable and reciprocal,” Trump said.
Senior officials from both countries will meet in Washington on July 19 to discuss economic and trade issues.
Before he left fo Europe and the G-20 the SCUM American media were relentless in there attacks of President Donald J. Trump and what a dummy, isolationist he was————–well as usual the SCUM media was wrong and Prsident Donald J.Trump showed the watching world how important it is to be light on your feet when the world watches. Merkel, was portrayed as the leader of the "Free World," what a joke ————-the traitor to her own German people couldn’t even control a few mental Communists from causing trouble. As for the little punk Macron, the SCUM media kept telling us that Macron would beat some sense into President Donald J. Trump on that dopey Climate Control Resolution that the Coward, Brack Hussein Obama was all in with——————well how did that go down———-Trump and his beautiful wife dazzled one and all and the SCUM media is left with another failure!!
Why the two leaders did not touch on the South China Sea? Too hot to touch?