Chinese officials have voiced confidence trip could bring some significant outcomes, but analysts say that may depend largely on Trump’s approach
When U. S. President Donald Trump makes his first visit to China next week, a key stop on a lengthy trip to the Asian region, trade and North Korea are expected to top his agenda.
Chinese officials have voiced confidence the trip could bring some significant outcomes, but analysts say that may depend largely on Trump’s approach.
Much has changed since President Trump and China’s Xi Jinping met for the first time earlier this year in Florida.
And much hasn’t.
Trade is still a huge issue, but North Korea has rocketed to the forefront of the relationship. And Trump has linked the two together in what one Chinese analyst calls his “unstrategic-strategy.”
That strategy of linking the world’s most complex relationship – ties between the United States and China – with the world’s most difficult problem – North Korea – has yielded some results.
China has approved some of the toughest sanctions to date this year against Pyongyang, as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has tested the international community’s resolve with provocative missile launches and its sixth nuclear test.
During his visit, Trump will try to press Beijing to do more to sway Pyongyang, but pressure alone is unlikely to sway China. Analysts said that amid the increasingly bellicose rhetoric between the U. S. and North Korea, and Pyongyang’s harsh treatment of Beijing in response to sanctions, China has almost exhausted its options.
