US President Donald Trump (left) and China's Yang Jiechi. Photos: AFP, Reuters
Topics discussed with Yang Jiechi include cooperation between the countries and a possible Xi meeting.
WASHINGTON — United States President Donald Trump, who has attacked China on issues from trade to the South China Sea, held his first face-to-face talks with a member of the Chinese leadership on Monday (Feb 27), and the White House said it was a chance to discuss shared security interests and a possible meeting with President Xi Jinping.
State Councilor Yang Jiechi, China’s top diplomat, met Mr Trump briefly after talks with the new US National Security adviser, HR McMaster, Mr Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, and White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.
A senior US administration official said discussions included bilateral cooperation and the possibility of arranging a meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Xi, but no date was set.
The official said the meeting with Mr Trump lasted five to seven minutes.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer called it “an opportunity to say ‘hi’ to the president” before Mr Yang left.
“This was an opportunity to begin that conversation and talk to them on shared interests of national security,” he said at a regular news briefing.
China’s Foreign Ministry cited Mr Yang as telling Mr Trump that China was willing to enhance exchanges with the United States at all levels, expand coordination and cooperation, and respect each others’ core interests and major concerns.
“Ensuring the steady and healthy development of China-US ties will surely benefit both peoples and the world as a whole,” the ministry paraphrased Mr Yang as saying.
Mr Yang, who outranks China’s foreign minister, was the first top Chinese official to visit the White House since Mr Trump took office on Jan. 20.
His visit followed a phone call between Mr Yang and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last week, during which the two affirmed the importance of a constructive US-China relationship.
It was the latest step by the world’s two largest economies to try to put relations back on an even keel after a rocky start following Mr Trump’s election victory.
Mr Trump has been a strong critic of Beijing, accusing China of unfair trade policies, criticizing its island building in the strategic South China Sea, and accusing it of not doing enough to constrain its neighbour, North Korea.
Mr Trump had incensed Beijing in December by talking to the president of Taiwan and saying the United States did not have to stick to the “one China” policy, under which Washington acknowledges the Chinese position that there is only one China, of which Taiwan is a part.
Mr Trump later agreed in a phone call with Mr Xi to honour the “one China” policy in a diplomatic boost for Beijing, which vehemently opposes criticism of its claim to self-ruled Taiwan.
In an interview with Reuters last Thursday, Mr Trump pressed China to do more to rein in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes, saying Beijing could resolve the issue “very easily if it wanted to”.
As Mr Yang held talks at the White House, senior officials from the United States, Japan and South Korea met at the State Department to discuss additional measures to choke off funding to North Korea’s weapons programme.
“The officials considered other possible measures under national authorities, including means to restrict further the revenue sources for North Korea’s weapons programmes, particularly illicit activities,” they said in a joint statement.
They also agreed that North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes directly threatened their security and “strong international pressure” was needed to push back at Pyongyang, the statement said.
Plans for renewed contacts with North Korea in the United States were canceled last week after the US State Department denied a visa for the top envoy from Pyongyang, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. REUTERS
Trump holds face-to-face with China’s top diplomat
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