Trump Sees “Outstanding” Relationship With China After Talks

After the meeting, Trump took Xi on a walk around the manicured grounds of his lavish Spanish-style complex.

USA officials noted that the timing of the strike had the possible added benefit of signaling to China that Trump is willing to make good on his threat to act alone to stop North Korea’s nuclear pursuits if Beijing doesn’t exert more pressure on Pyongyang. China has increased pressure and imposed restrictions on some South Korean companies doing business in China, which led many in the South to believe Beijing was retaliating against the deployment of the missile system.

Trump also accepted an invitation from Xi to visit China, China’s official New China News Agency reported Friday.

As a U.S. Navy strike group headed toward the Korean Peninsula, Tillerson said China agrees that action is necessary to address North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, following last week’s meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Christopher Kozak, a Syria analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, agreed the strike was a necessary development toward reestablishing USA deterrence, but stressed that the administration needs to persist in deterrent measures to reap lasting results.

China Daily said both parties appeared “equally enthusiastic about the constructive relationship they have promised to cultivate”.

Xi’s visit was overshadowed, though, by a USA missile barrage on an air base in Syria in response to this week’s chemical weapons attack against civilians, which the US blamed on President Bashar Assad.

But the White House did not ask Congress for permission and it offered no public explanation until after the mission had been completed, when administration officials, including Vice President Mike Pence and Cabinet officials, placed calls to US lawmakers and foreign capitals, and briefed reporters.

Even as American missiles streaked across the Syrian sky, Trump gave no outward indication of what he had ordered, making good on his campaign promise never to publicly telegraph his military strategy.

Though Trump had just given the order, he delighted in playing the gracious host for Xi, escorting the Chinese president and his wife around his lush estate.

For Xi, who is entering a twice-a-decade Communist Party congress in the fall, the meeting with Trump was more about stabilizing the critical U.S. Those strikes added weight to Trump’s threat last week to act unilaterally against North Korea’s weapons program.

On the issue of relations between Taiwan and the US, he said the government has continued to stay in close contact with the USA and maintains a “surprise-free” principle in the development of Taipei-Washington ties.

Xi expressed “an appreciation” to Trump for informing him of the number of missiles that were launched and explaining the rationale behind the strike, said Tillerson.

General Jack Keane said: “We’re rapidly and dangerously heading towards the reality that the military option is the only one left when it comes to getting North Korea to denuclearise and not weaponised ICBMs”.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the two sides made progress in narrowing their differences, but did not elaborate further.

But according to one White House official, Trump is not ruling anything out when it comes to dealing with Pyongyang.

In an interview to air Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation“, Tillerson said Russians were not targeted by the strikes. The U.S. withdrew all nuclear weapons from South Korea 25 years ago.

But for some of Trump’s supporters, ideological elasticity is a virtue for a president who took office with no practical foreign policy experience.

Trump also noted the importance of protecting human rights, and asked China to adhere to global norms in the seas of East Asia.