Xi urges calm in call with Trump
Print Edition
PRESIDENT Xi Jinping urged a peaceful resolution to rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula in a telephone call with US counterpart Donald Trump yesterday.
China’s call for calm comes as a US aircraft carrier strike group heads to the area and after the deployment of thousands of US and South Korean troops, tanks and other weaponry in their biggest joint military exercises to date.
Xi told Trump that China is willing to continue working with the United States on denuclearization, according to a brief description of the call released by the Chinese foreign ministry.
“China insists on realizing the denuclearization of the peninsula, insists on maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula, and advocates resolving the problem through peaceful means,” Xi was quoted as saying.
Trump had ordered the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group to head to the peninsula in an attempt to deter North Korea’s nuclear and long-range missile ambitions, which it is developing in defiance of UN resolutions and sanctions.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang, who said Trump had initiated the call, urged everyone to lower tensions.
“We hope the relevant parties do not adopt irresponsible actions. Under the current circumstances, this is very dangerous,” Lu told reporters at a regular press briefing in Beijing.
During the call, Xi told Trump that China remains “willing to maintain communication and coordination with the American side on the issue of the peninsula.”
Trump said it was vital for the two heads of state to maintain close ties.
Xi also told Trump that the Syria issue “must continue to move toward a political solution,” and that “any use of chemical weapons is unacceptable.”
He said their summit in Florida produced “significant results,” and that both sides would work together to ensure Trump visits China later this year.
North Korea has warned of a nuclear attack on the US in retaliation for any signs of aggression, a threat that has been made numerous times before.
Officials from North Korea, including leader Kim Jong Un, have indicated that an intercontinental ballistic missile test or something similar could be on the way.
North Korea launched a rocket carrying a satellite on April 13, 2012, marking the anniversary of the birth of North Korea’s founding father Kim Il Sung. Saturday will be the 105th anniversary of his birth.
Russia has said it is worried about the possibility of a US attack on North Korea and it would raise the issue with visiting US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Russian media quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying.
Earlier yesterday, sources in Tokyo said Japan’s navy planned exercises with the Carl Vinson group in a joint show of force. Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force and the US Navy could conduct helicopter landings on each other’s ships, as well as communication drills.
A senior Japanese diplomat said it appeared the US position was to put maximum pressure on North Korea to reach a solution peacefully and diplomatically.
South Korea’s acting president, Hwang Kyo-ahn, has warned of “greater provocations” by North Korea and ordered the military to intensify monitoring.
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