Trump in Asia: ‘Time running out’ to deal over North Korea’s nukes
Xi Jinping and Donald Trump have affirmed their ‘firm commitment’ to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
Xi Jinping and Donald Trump affirmed in Beijing yesterday their “firm commitment” to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and the implementation of UN resolutions.
The US President was buoyed by the announcement of $325 billion in new orders for American business, defusing his hostility to the trade relationship with China.
But he still pressed the urgency of the North Korean challenge.
“Time is quickly running out … We must act fast. And hopefully China will act faster and more effectively on this problem than anyone,” Mr Trump said.
He thanked the Chinese President for restricting Chinese trade with North Korea.
“China can fix this problem easily and quickly, and I am calling on China and your great President to hopefully work on it very hard,” Mr Trump said. “If (Mr Xi) works on it hard, it will happen. There’s no doubt about it.”
He also called on Russia “to help rein in this potentially very tragic situation”.
Mr Xi repeated his plea for the issue to be resolved through negotiations, saying China was ready to discuss the “pathway leading to enduring peace and stability on the peninsula”.
Signing the new corporate deals, Mr Trump said he did not blame Beijing for having gained so much from its US exports. “After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for the sake of its citizens? I give China great credit,” he said.
He blamed instead, previous presidents “for allowing this out-of-control trade deficit to take place and to grow”.
Negotiations over bigger-picture structural change in the economic relationship between the US and China, especially to ease market access, appeared to remain stuck, including on a bilateral investment agreement.
However, Mr Xi vowed China would not close its doors to foreign businesses, but instead open them “even wider”. They would find China’s market “more open, more transparent and more orderly”.
While attacking the unfairness of China’s trade with the US during last year’s election campaign, Mr Trump so far has held back as President from imposing major trade penalties — in part because of the need to enlist China’s support to deal with the nuclear weapons threat posed by North Korea.
Mr Trump also steered clear in China of raising the issue of human rights publicly, although he had focused on North Korea’s rights abuses in his speech to South Korea’s parliament on Wednesday. Human rights were touched on in Mr Trump’s official talks with Mr Xi.
The Chinese Communist Party-owned newspaper Global Times editorialised that Mr Trump seemed to be pragmatic, with no interest in ideological diplomacy.
“He hasn’t used the issue of human rights to make trouble for China so far, and this means the Sino-US relationship can focus on substantive matters,” it said.
The new contracts comprise a mix of memorandums of understanding and contracts — negotiated over the past few months or years — although the time scale for purchase and delivery mostly was undefined.
The 40-strong business delegation accompanying Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in the slipstream of Mr Trump’s nine-day Asia tour includes two liquefied natural gas corporation leaders, who are keen to start selling to China for the first time — in competition with Australia, which is now the world’s biggest producer. In May, the US and China agreed to allow Chinese companies to strike long-term contracts with American LNG producers.
As well as two LNG deals worth a combined $66bn, other contracts signed yesterday were for jet engines, automotive parts and beef, an area of intense competition with Australian producers.
China Central TV broadcast live yesterday’s official welcome ceremony for Mr Trump outside the Great Hall of the People.
Mr Trump and wife Melania had been welcomed informally the previous afternoon by Mr Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan at the 700-year-old Forbidden City.
The Trumps were seen being shown around the vast imperial palace by Mr Xi. As they took tea in the Hall of Embodied Treasures, Mr Trump showed his hosts a video of his granddaughter Arabella Kushner reciting ancient Chinese poetry. Mr Xi described her performance as “A plus”.
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