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US, China Presidents Hold Talks to Resolve North Korea Crisis | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping in July. (Saul Loeb / Associated Press)


Bejing- Chinese leader Xi Jinping urged restraint in a phone call with President Trump on Saturday, following a week of blustery rhetoric between North Korea and the US.

Xi warned that “concerned parties” should avoid “remarks and actions” that could escalate tensions with North Korea, according to the state-run New China News Agency.

He reiterated China’s desire to work with the US, citing “common interests” in preserving stability in the region.

A White House statement said the US and China agreed North Korea must stop “provocative and escalatory behavior” – this week, Trump waged a verbal attack on North Korea on the background of its nuclear and ballistic program.

Japanese media reported that Tokyo deployed its Patriot missile defense system on Saturday after North Korea threatened to fire ballistic missiles over the country towards the US Pacific territory of Guam.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Saturday that the regime of North Korea is responsible for the crisis with the US and must fix it, affirming that London longs to a diplomatic resolution.

He tweeted: “The North Korean regime is the cause of this problem and they must fix it.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said that France and other UN Security Council members want North Korea to “proceed with the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of its nuclear and ballistic programmes,” knowing that the UN Security Council has voted unanimously to impose new sanctions on North Korea that could reach up to $1 billion annually.