Trump Arrives In China Amid North Korea Trade Tensions

Beijing: US President Donald Trump arrived here on Wednesday on a state visit likely to focus heavily on trade and tensions with North Korea.

The third leg of the US President's five-nation Asia tour comes after stops in Japan and South Korea. It is Trump's first visit to the country since he assumed office in January. He is the first head of state to visit China since the landmark 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Xinhua news agency reported. Chinese President Xi Jinping has a lavish reception planned in honour of his US counterpart, BBC reported.

Earlier in the day, in a speech to the South Korean Parliament, Trump urged Beijing to "implement UN sanctions, downgrade diplomacy and sever trade" with Pyongyang. Xi and Trump will hold strategic communications on significant issues of common concern to build new consensus, enhance mutual understanding and friendship, and promote bilateral relations in all spheres, said China's Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang. Apart from formal activities commensurate with a state visit, "informal interactions" will be arranged for the Presidents of the two countries, Zheng said.

This is the third meeting between Xi and Trump following their first meeting at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, in April and the second in Hamburg, Germany, in July on the sidelines of the G20 summit. This year marks the 45th anniversary of former US President Richard Nixon's "ice-breaking" visit to China, which began the normalisation of relations between the two countries.

-IANS