Trump set to host Xi in April

Countries are finalising plans for summit between leaders at Mar-a-Lago

WASHINGTON: The United States and China are finalising plans for a summit between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago next month, but diplomats are struggling to remove last-minute stumbling blocks.

Officials in both countries said that Trump has tentatively agreed to host Xi at his Florida resort in early April – a significant outreach after the mogul’s bare-knuckle anti-Chinese election rhetoric.

But according to officials, the plan is running up against differences over how to deal with issues like North Korea, what “deliverables” can come out of the talks and anger over leaks before the meeting was finalised.

The White House is pressing

China to make commitments that would help curb North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction programmes – which may soon be capable of delivering a nuke to the western United States.

China has been reluctant to lean on its smaller neighbour, and fears the United States is trying to increase its influence on the Korean peninsula.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Beijing is being seen as a make-or-break moment in deciding whether Xi’s visit goes ahead.

Before his arrival there today, Tillerson warned two decades of efforts to stop North Korea’s nuclear ambitions have failed.

“In the face of the ever escalating threat it is clear that a new approach is required,” he said in Tokyo.

Just weeks ago, a summit seemed a distant possibility, as the newly elected president infuriated Beijing with suggestions he might break from the US’ long-standing One China Policy and threatened a trade war.

But in a conciliatory phone call in mid-February, Trump walked back controversial comments on Taiwan, creating an opening for Washington and Beijing to discuss a meeting.

China quickly capitalised on the opportunity, sending its top diplomat Yang Jiechi to Washington.

There he held talks at the White House, meeting with Trump’s sonin-law Jared Kushner, his chief strategist Steve Bannon and US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster before stopping in for a brief chat with the president.

During the discussions Yang suggested that Trump host Xi at Mar-aLago, his palatial estate in Palm Beach, according to multiple sources in both capitals with knowledge of the discussions. — AFP

In the face of the ever escalating threat it is clear that a new approach is required. Rex Tillerson