Xi Jinping calls Trump over North Korea

International Desk: Chinese President Xi Jinping has told US President Donald Trump in a phone call that Beijing is willing to work with Washington on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons program but wants a peaceful solution.

Mr Xi’s comments come after the US president tweeted that China should do more on the issue Washington sees as an increasingly urgent threat, or the U.S. would go it alone.

The call, brief details of which were released by the Chinese foreign ministry, also come as tensions have risen with the deployment of a US aircraft carrier to the area and the conducting of the biggest-ever US-South Korea military exercises.

The phone call between the two presidents came as Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull urged China to use its influence over North Korea to prevent a regional clash with its leader Kim Jong-un.

Mr Xi told Mr Trump that China insists on peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and wants to find a solution to the problem through peaceful means. “China insists on realising the denuclearisation of the peninsula ... and is willing to maintain communication and co-ordination with the American side over the issue on the peninsula,” Xi was quoted as saying by state broadcaster CCTV and other official media outlets.

The two leaders spoke on Tuesday night Washington time.

Source: Agencies
 

risingbd/Dhaka/April 12, 2017/A K Azad