Thread: Xi and Trump discuss North Korea, Syria by phone, China says

Xi and Trump discuss North Korea, Syria by phone, China says

By Steven Jiang, Katie Hunt and Ben Westcott CNN
Updated 2:17 AM ET, Wed April 12, 2017

Story highlights

The two leaders met for the first time last week at Trump's estate in Florida
A US strike group was deployed to the Korean Peninsula amid rising tensions

(CNN)Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the situation in North Korea and Syria with US President Donald Trump in a telephone call on Wednesday, China's foreign ministry said.

Trump has repeatedly called on China to do more to rein in its unruly neighbor, which has stepped up its missile development and nuclear program since 2016.

The US has sent an aircraft carrier strike group to the region after the latest missile test by North Korea last week, drawing a forceful warning from Pyongyang.

The phone call between the two came after Trump turned to Twitter to vent his frustrations over North Korea.

"I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the U.S. will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem," he tweeted.

"North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! U.S.A.," he wrote in a second tweet.

According to a statement from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Xi reiterated that China wants a denuclearized Korean peninsula and called for peace and stability.

"China advocates to resolve the issue through peaceful means, and is willing to maintain communication and coordination with the US on the Korean Peninsula issue," the statement quoted Xi as saying.

The two leaders met for the first time last week at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and were having dinner when the US launched a strike against a Syrian airfield following a chemical attack.

On Syria, Xi said: "Any use of chemical weapons is unacceptable. We should adhere to the direction of resolving the issue through political means. Maintaining unity within the UN Security Council is very important to resolve the Syria issue and I hope the UNSC will speak with one voice."

North Korea issues warning as US strike group heads to Korean Peninsula

New phase?

In the wake of the Trump-Xi meeting, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that China understood how dangerous North Korea's nuclear program had become and had agreed action must be taken to stop it.

China hasn't signaled any clear change in policy towards its neighbor and Xi's language followed the usual script. However, Wednesday's read-out was the first time China confirmed in detail that the two leaders had directly discussed North Korea.
Two Chinese statements released directly after the Mar-A-Lago meeting didn't mention North Korea by name, even though the country had been expected to dominate discussions.

Alexander Neill, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore, told CNN the phone call was part of a "new phase" in how China and the US approach North Korea.

"I think at this point the common interest between the US and China outweigh (North Korea saber-rattling). China may be prepared to do some sort of tradeoff... They want to rein in Kim Jong Un."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/12/politi...xi-phone-call/

Sounds like China is in.

Now we need Russia.

China rebuffs Donald Trump's North Korea tweet with niceties

April 12 2017 - 5:38PM
Kirsty Needham

Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged his US counterpart Donald Trump to seek a "peaceful solution" on the Korean peninsula, in a phone call that came in the wake of Mr Trump's latest tweeted salvo linking the issue to a trade deal.

According to a Chinese state television account of the call, Mr Xi stressed that China insisted the goal of denuclearisation of Korean Peninsula should be realised while safeguarding peace and stability.

Speculation the United States, which has sent an aircraft carrier to the region, is considering a military response to any nuclear test or missile launch that may be made by North Korea, was fuelled by the Mr Trump's bellicose tweet. Mr Trump wrote the US would solve the North Korean problem "without" China, if it declined to help.

On the call, Mr Xi reminded the American leader the two countries had agreed to keep close communication on the issue.

Mr Xi made the phone call at the request of President Trump and both sides were candid in their opinions, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, when asked to comment on the US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson heading to Korean waters, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said: "we hope all parties refrain from irresponsible actions that would be very dangerous at the moment".

Chinese officials have publicly said any response to a nuclear test must be made through the United Nations Security Council, amid indications China would vote in favour of tougher sanctions against North Korea.

In a sign North Korea may be ready to improve its international engagement, Supreme People's Assembly on Tuesday revived a parliamentary foreign affairs committee which was disbanded in 1998. Korean Central News Agency reported that a former diplomat, Ri Su-yong was appointed to head the Diplomatic Commission.

North Korea watchers in Beijing said they believed a missile intercept by the United States was a more likely response to a North Korean missile test than the US making a direct attack on North Korean soil.

Associate professor Cai Jian, an expert on North Korea at Shanghai's Fudan University, said "If there is an interception, it won't cause much conflict. It may escalate tension but is different to direct military attack".

He said the consequences of a missile intercept would be similar to minor military conflicts between North and South Korea "and will be under control".

But Mr Cai questioned whether North Korea would conduct a nuclear test when the US and China appeared to be cooperating on the issue of North Korean denuclearisation.

North Korea's weapons program and behaviour weren't in China's strategic interest, he said, and China needed to take further action, which could include cutting North Korea's oil supply.

A 30-kilometre long Chinese oil pipeline from Dandong in northern China to North Korea carries 520,000 tonnes of crude oil a year, but it is not recorded in customs records and technically avoids breaching UN sanctions on North Korea because it is classed by China as "aid".

In recent days, Chinese customs have tightened checks on cargo trucks entering China from North Korea, and at sea, multiple North Korean coal tankers have been turned away from Chinese ports after the Chinese government banned companies from accepting coal from North Korea.

On Wednesday, the Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times carried an editorial that said public opinion supported the government toughening its sanctions on North Korea.

The Global Times wrote that if North Korea conducted another nuclear test, Beijing's reaction would be unprecedented, and it was likely to vote in support of further sanctions in the Security Council.

"If Pyongyang makes a big mistake, it may be very difficult to have opportunity for carrying out strategic correction," the editorial said.

A veteran Beijing military commentator, Song Xiaojun, said he didn't expect Mr Trump to attack North Korea and said the tweets were "showing off". Mr Song said the rhetoric from the White House was designed to pressure China on trade and boost the prospects of a friendly South Korean presidential candidate in next month's election.

Mr Cai said South Korea and Japan would be unlikely to support a unilateral attack by the US: "Syria poses no threat to US or its allies at all. But North Korea has strong counter-strike capability. Although so far its nuclear missiles can't pose a direct threat to America, they are enough to strike America's allies in the region, South Korea and Japan," he said.

According to the CCTV report of the call, Mr Xi stressed he was glad to talk on the phone, and reminded Mr Trump of the fruitful summit the two leaders had held recently at Mar-a-Lago, which had been evaluated positively by the international community.

He said the two leaders had agreed to communicate and coordinate on major regional and international issues, and hoped the two countries would work together in promoting world peace and development.

According to CCTV, Mr Trump had agreed on the importance of both leaders maintaining close contact, and they should work together to explore "pragmatic cooperation".

On Syria, Mr Xi said it was unacceptable for any kind of chemical weapons to be used, and he hoped the UN Security Council could send out a unanimous message to solve the Syrian crisis.

- with Sanghee Liu

http://www.smh.com.au/world/china-re...12-gvjnnn.html

Sounds like Xi and Trump really got along well. I hope this new good relationship tightens up and is worked to our advantage on a wide array of trade issues. From other reports, China knows what they're doing won't be tolerated any more, so things like currency manipulation, dumping and not buying enough of our products to offset the trade imbalance will likely soon be corrected. Measures were already taken to offset it quite a bit after the election.

They also seem totally committed to a denuclearisation of North Korea. But we'll need Russia with US on this to make it happen peacefully.

Whatever Trump said to China about North Korea, it seems like it worked

Alex Lockie
9:30 am
April 12, 2017

When US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were enjoying chocolate cake at the end of their first dinner together on Thursday, US Navy ships were pounding a Syrian airfield with a salvo of 59 cruise missiles.

After a phone call on Tuesday night, the two signaled an agreement to work together to denuclearize North Korea, and China reportedly sent 150,000 troops to North Korea's border.

The Trump administration has long tried to establish its willingness to use military force against Kim Jong Un's regime.

"China insists on realizing the denuclearization of the peninsula ... and is willing to maintain communication and coordination with the American side over the issue on the peninsula," Xi was quoted as saying by the state broadcaster CCTV and other official media outlets after the call.

"Had a very good call last night with the President of China concerning the menace of North Korea," Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning. Trump last month said China could end the North Korean crisis easily if it wanted to, but it had "done little to help."

China has resisted taking hard action against North Korea since it has a vested interest in preserving the state, which acts as a physical and cultural buffer between China and the Western-oriented, democratic South Korea.

But now, as the US Navy's USS Carl Vinson carrier-strike group looms just off the Korean peninsula, multilateral talks hold more promise than ever.

Xi's response after his meeting with Trump signals he may be willing to go further in reeling in the rogue North Korean leader. Trump reportedly stressed the issue and suggested the US would unilaterally take care of the Kim regime if necessary.

The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) transits the South China Sea, April 8, 2017. Photo taken April 8, 2017. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Matt Brown/Handout via Reuters The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) in the South China Sea. Thomson Reuters

But experts have told Business Insider that US military action against North Korea was never likely or plausible — North Korea just has too many guns aimed at South Korea.

"The Chinese are smart enough to think about the various military options, so they probably have concluded that there's a very low likelihood" the US would strike North Korea, said Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"I think it's almost a universal that with military strikes the downsides are just so great that it's hard to see them taking place," said Joel Wit, the founder of 38 North, a website that brings together experts on North Korea.

But the Chinese seem to have been spooked by the deployment of a high-tech US missile-defense battery to South Korea, reportedly because of its advanced radar capabilities.

China is responsible for 85% of North Korea's external trade and a similar percentage of its energy imports.

While China has signed onto every UN Security Council resolution against North Korea since 2006, "it has, of course, watered down most if not all of those Security Council resolutions because it has not wanted to agree to sanctions that might create instability in North Korea," Glaser said. "And if it won't cause instability, it's probably not likely to be tough enough to cause Kim Jong Un to rethink his strategy and priorities."

So while China may have been swayed to act against its own interests by the Trump administration's military posturing, another more credible threat could have moved the needle.

"I think that [the Chinese] are quite worried about what Trump might do in the area of trade and economics — that's really credible," Glaser said.

http://www.businessinsider.com/trump...learize-2017-4

Sounds like China is in all the way.

We need Russia to close the gap.