China’s top diplomat in talks with Trump in Washington
State Councillor Yang Jiechi meets US president in White House to discuss security issues and a possible summit between the nations’ leaders
China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi met US President Donald Trump in the White House on Tuesday to discuss “shared interests of national security” and a possible summit between the American leader and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
The talks on Tuesday could help ease concerns over worsening ties between the two sides, and indicated that holding the first meeting between the Xi and Trump was high on both leaders’ agenda, observers said.
But uncertainties would still overshadow their ties, given that many senior positions in the Trump administration had yet to be filled, and neither side had discussed specific policies,they said.
Yang, a state councillor, is the highest-level Chinese official to visit the US since Trump took office in late January.
Later on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Yang and affirmed the importance of “regular high-level engagement” between the two countries and discussed North Korea’s nuclear programme, the State Department said in a statement.