America’s top diplomat, Rex Tillerson, rounded off his first Asia tour yesterday meeting the president of China, the country Donald Trump accuses of failing to rein in North Korea.
Xi and Tillerson agreed that opportunities existed for greater cooperation between the two countries, though differences remain, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said following the meeting on Sunday.
Beijing was Tillerson’s final stop on his first official trip to Asia, which also included visits to Japan and South Korea.
Trump has also repeatedly accused China of unfair trade practices, and had made the reshoring of U.S. manufacturing from the world’s most populous state a key campaign pledge.
“And he looks forward to enhancing that understanding in the opportunity for a visit in the future“, the Secretary of State added. And this was sort of surprising given the fact that Trump recently tweeted that China hasn’t been very helpful with North Korea.
The promises of mutual understanding and friendship came despite disagreements between the two nations on trade, worldwide relations and other issues – and as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to make critical comments about China.
Underscoring the tensions, North Korea conducted a test of a new high-thrust engine at its Tongchang-ri rocket launch station, and Kim said the successful test was “a new birth” of its rocket industry, Pyongyang’s official media said on Sunday. That country has made no effort to hide its intention to develop a ballistic missile capable of reaching the USA mainland with nuclear warheads which it has also been testing.
Neither Tillerson nor Wang elaborated what steps are under consideration and it’s still unclear whether Washington and Beijing see eye to eye on the issue.
The US and China still do not see eye-to-eye on multiple issues, including the One China policy – that denies global recognition to Taiwan as an independent state, political freedom in Hong Kong, and the rights of the country’s Tibetan minority.
“Both (Trump) and I believe that we need to make joint efforts to advance China-US co-operation and we believe that we can make sure the relationship will move ahead in a constructive fashion in the new era”, Mr Xi said. The policy of strategic patience is over.
South Korean Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho failed to have talks with his Chinese counterpart Xiao Jie at the Group of 20 finance ministers meeting held in Germany last week as China declined to have one, citing scheduling matters.
Beijing is also suspicious of United States intentions towards self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own.
On Thursday in Tokyo, Tillerson called for a “new approach” to dealing with North Korea. Beijing has already taken harsh punitive measures against Pyongyang, including suspending the import of coal-North Korea’s largest export earner.
Cooperation is the right option for both nations, the Chinese president said after recognizing that there are significant progress openings as a result of China-US bilateral relations.
In December, Taiwan had celebrated a diplomatic coup when Trump, as president-elect, took a congratulatory phone call from Tsai and raised questions about whether he would stick with the four-decade-old “one China” policy.
Tillerson’s China visit, it seems, is aimed at finding common grounds for bottleneck issues to prepare conducive atmosphere for Trump-Jinping summit, something that China also realises.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Beijing, Victor Gao, director of the China National Association of International Studies, said: “US-China trade right now is worth nearly $600bn and it is a fact that China has a huge surplus in the trade with the US”. The Chinese government has been hostile to North Korea’s nuclear tests, which provide the excuse for a military build-up by the U.S. and its allies.
