Xi urges Trump to de-escalate North Korean issue

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged all the concerned parties to practice restraint regarding the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue in a phone conversation with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump on Saturday.

The concerned parties should avoid remarks and actions that could escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Xi said, adding China is ready to work with the United States to appropriately resolve the issue, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua.

Xi stressed that China and the United States have common interests in achieving denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and maintaining peace and stability there.

Trump, for his part, said the United States fully understands China’s efforts in resolving the nuclear issue, and is willing to continue to keep close contacts with Beijing on major international and regional issues of common concern.

In a White House statement on the same conversation, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were said to have reiterated their mutual commitment to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

Trump and Xi also agreed that the recent adoption of a United Nations Security Council resolution on North Korea was an important step toward achieving peace and stability on the peninsula, it added.

“President Trump and President Xi agreed North Korea must stop its provocative and escalatory behavior,” the statement said.

The White House said the “relationship between the two presidents is an extremely close one, and will hopefully lead to a peaceful resolution of the North Korea problem.”

President Trump had triggered off the sabre rattling in the Korean Peninsula when he said he would meet the Korean missile threat with ‘fire and fury’.

When North Korea responded that Trump said a load of rubbish and threaten to hit US military base in Guam in some days, Trump said American military was “locked and loaded” to strike at the isolated country.

Pyongyang accused Trump of driving the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war and world powers expressed alarm.

China, Russia and Germany voiced dismay at the war of words between Pyongyang and Washington.

Despite Trump talks with China, the Pentagon said the United States and South Korea would proceed as planned with a joint military exercise in 10 days, an action sure to further antagonize North Korea.