Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping told US secretary of state Rex Tillerson on Saturday that he expected President Donald Trump’s upcoming visit to be “wonderful”, as ties appear warmer following tensions over how to handle North Korea.
Xi smiled as he greeted Tillerson at the imposing Great Hall of the People across Tiananmen Square for talks expected to focus on North Korea and Trump’s November visit.
The two men, however, did not mention the hermit state in public remarks before their private talks.
Xi recalled that he and Trump have spoken on the phone several times and that they already met at the US leader’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in April and the G20 summit in Hamburg in July.
“I have enjoyed each and every one of those engagements and we have made considerable efforts to push for the development of China-US relations,” Xi said.
“The two of us have also maintained a good working relationship and personal friendship,” he said, adding that he believed Trump’s visit “will be a special, wonderful and successful one”.
Trump has touted his friendship with Xi but he has also prodded the Chinese leader in recent months to exert more pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile activities.
The Trump administration angered Beijing this summer by slapping sanctions on Chinese companies accused of supporting North Korea’s weapons programme. But China has since backed a slew of additional UN sanctions on its neighbour.
