US president Donald Trump will hold his first meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping of his second term when the leaders of the world’s two largest economies visit South Korea for an Asia-Pacific summit.
Trump will meet Xi on Oct 30, it has been confirmed by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Trump indicated earlier that he would use his meeting with Xi to urge China stop its purchases of Russian oil to ratchet up pressure on Moscow to end its invasion of Ukraine.
He also touched on plans to discuss with the Chinese leader Beijing's tighter export control measures on rare earths that were announced earlier this month.
Trump said his priority was reaching a “fair” trade deal with China. He declined to answer a question on whether he would sacrifice US support for Taiwan as part of an agreement with Xi.
“I want to be good to China. I love my relationship with President Xi. We have a great relationship,” Trump said.
The United States recognizes only Beijing and not Taiwan, where the Chinese mainland’s defeated nationalists fled in 1949 after losing the civil war to the communists and which has since turned into a flourishing democracy and technology hub.
Under US law, the United States is required to provide Taiwan weapons for its self-defense but Washington has been deliberately ambiguous on whether it would use force to defend Taiwan. Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden repeatedly suggested he would order the US military to intervene if China moved on Taiwan.
Donald Trump will travel to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea for the Apec and Asean summits.
CNN reported last week that Trump administration officials have privately discussed setting up a meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un when Trump visits Asia next month, though many are skeptical that it will ultimately happen, sources familiar with the matter said.
Officials have not yet done any of the serious logistical planning they would need to do to arrange such a visit, the sources said, pointing to the fact that there have not been any communications between Washington and Pyongyang like Trump had at times during his first term.
Trump’s initial outreach to the North Korean leader earlier this year never received a reply because the North Koreans would not accept the letter, two sources told CNN.
For the upcoming trip, the White House has instead been far more focused on arranging a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping amid escalating trade tensions between the US and China. But Trump has publicly and privately expressed a desire to meet his North Korean counterpart.
Trump recently offered to lower tariffs on Chinese exports to the US but insisted that Beijing, too, had to make concessions, including resuming purchases of US soya beans, curbing the flow of ingredients used to make the opioid fentanyl – which has caused an overdose epidemic in America – and lifting restrictions on the export to the US of rare earth minerals, which are needed to manufacture hi-tech products such as smartphones.
A failure to lower trade tensions could further damage US industries that are already dealing with the fallout from Trump’s tariffs. The US president was upbeat ahead of his meeting with Xi, telling reporters this week: “I think we’re going to end up having a fantastic deal with China … it’s going to be fantastic for the entire world”.
Time is of the essence, however: Trump and Xi’s meeting, which has yet to be confirmed by Beijing, will take place just as additional duties of 100% on Chinese exports to the US are due to go into effect.
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