The polite but edgy tone underscored the plunge in U. S.-Chinese relations as the Trump administration confronts Beijing over its technology policies.<\/b>
\nBEIJING \u2014 Chinese officials appealed to U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday to repair relations they said have been damaged by U. S. tariff hikes and support for Taiwan, as their governments press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.
Pompeo said at the start of his talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi that Washington has a \u201cfundamental disagreement\u201d and \u201cgreat concerns\u201d about Chinese actions and looked forward to discussing them. Reporters were then ushered from the room.
The polite but edgy tone underscored the plunge in U. S.-Chinese relations as the administration of President Donald Trump confronts Beijing over its technology policies and territorial claims in the South China Sea. Trump also approved a weapons sale to Taiwan, the self-ruled island the Communist mainland claims as its own territory, and sanctioned a Chinese company and its leader over an arms purchase from Russia.
Those developments came as the countries have raised tariffs on tens of billions of dollars of each other\u2019s goods in a dispute over U. S. complaints that Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology.
At the same time, the United States and China are cooperating on efforts to pressure North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to give up his country\u2019s nuclear weapons and long-range missile programs.
Pompeo met Wang and Yang Jiechi, a senior Cabinet official and former foreign minister, after talks Sunday with Kim in North Korea\u2019s capital, Pyongyang. Pompeo also visited Japan and South Korea, where he said Monday in Seoul that there had been \u201csignificant progress\u201d toward an agreement for the North to give up its nuclear weapons.
Wang appealed to Pompeo to cease actions that Beijing sees as threatening its interests in order to avoid disrupting cooperation over North Korea and other issues.
\u201cWhile the U. S. side has constantly escalated trade frictions with China, it has also taken actions regarding Taiwan that harm China\u2019s core interests,\u201d Wang said.
In their later meeting, Yang expressed Chinese frustration with Washington while avoiding specifics, telling Pompeo relations are \u201cfacing challenges.\u201d Washington and Beijing \u201cshould and must make the correct choices,\u201d Yang said.
\u201cWe hope the United States and China can meet each other halfway and conscientiously fulfill the important consensus reached by the leaders of both countries,\u201d Yang said.
In Seoul, Pompeo said he and Kim had agreed to soon begin working-level talks on details of denuclearization and placement of international inspectors at one of North Korea\u2019s main nuclear facilities.
Pompeo said they came close to finalizing a date and venue for the next Kim-Trump meeting.
\u201cIt\u2019s a long process,\u201d Pompeo told reporters. \u201cWe made significant progress. We\u2019ll continue to make significant progress and we are further along in making that progress than any administration in an awfully long time.\u201d
Trump, tweeting from Washington shortly after Pompeo left North Korea, cited progress Pompeo had made on agreements Trump and Kim reached at their June summit in Singapore and said, \u201cI look forward to seeing Chairman Kim again, in the near future.\u201d
Pompeo said he and Kim had gotten \u201cpretty close\u201d to fixing the logistics for the summit but stressed that \u201csometimes that last inch is hard to close.\u201d
\u201cMost importantly, both the leaders believe there is real progress that can be made, substantive progress that can be made at the next summit and so we are going to get it at a time that works for each of the two leaders and at a place that works for both of them,\u201d he said.
North Korea\u2019s state-run news agency KCNA, meanwhile, said Monday that Kim had \u201cexpressed his will and conviction that a great progress would surely be made in solving the issues of utmost concern of the world.\u201d
In an early Monday dispatch, KCNA called the talks \u201cproductive and wonderful\u201d and said that \u201cmutual stands were fully understood and opinions exchanged.\u201d
In Seoul, Pompeo said Kim is expected soon to name Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui as a counterpart for his new special envoy for North Korea, former Ford executive Stephen Biegun, who accompanied him on the trip. He and Biegun both said they expected meetings at the working level to begin soon and become quite frequent before the next summit.
\u201cWe are starting to see a first wave of actions we can take on all four pillars of the Singapore communique,\u201d said Biegun. He is to work with South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and other countries that have an interest in the talks.
In Pyongyang on Sunday, Pompeo and Kim met for about 3 1\/2 hours, first in a business session and then in a 90-minute luncheon that the North Korean leader hosted at a state guesthouse.
Before visiting Pyongyang, Pompeo held talks in Tokyo with Japan\u2019s prime minister. He pledged the Trump administration would coordinate and unify its strategy for denuclearization with its allies. Japan has been wary of the initiative, but South Korea has embraced it.
Pompeo has refused to discuss details of negotiations, including a U. S. position on North Korea\u2019s demand for a formal end to the Korean War and a proposal from Seoul for such a declaration to be accompanied by a shutdown of the North\u2019s main known nuclear facility.
The United States and Japan have pushed for the North to turn over a list of its nuclear sites to be dismantled as a next step in the process. The North has rejected that and South Korea has suggested it may not be a necessary next step.
Pompeo, however, played down the differences.
\u201cI\u2019ve never been involved in an international discussion where there weren\u2019t differences of view, not only between governments but inside of governments,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if you look at the approach, we are in lockstep with each of those two countries in terms of how we approach achieving the results that everyone is aimed at. And so there\u2019ll be tactical places where we\u2019ll have debates and disagreements. That is a necessary component of getting to the best deliverable.\u201d
\u201cBut with respect to our relationship with the Republic of Korea and Japan on this issue, I have found that we are in lockstep on the most important issues and how to approach them,\u201d Pompeo said.
Since the denuclearization effort got underway with a secret visit to the North by then-CIA chief Pompeo in April, there has been only limited progress, even since the June 12 Trump-Kim summit that many had hoped would jump-start the effort.
North Korea so far has suspended nuclear and missile tests, freed three American prisoners and dismantled parts of a missile engine facility and tunnel entrances at a nuclear test site. It has not taken any steps to halt nuclear weapons or missile development.
The North has accused Washington of making \u201cunilateral and gangster-like\u201d demands on denuclearization and has insisted that sanctions should be lifted before any progress in nuclear talks. U. S. officials have thus far said the penalties will remain in place until the North\u2019s denuclearization is fully verified.
Also on Monday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he expects Kim to travel to Russia and for Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit North Korea soon amid a global diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear crisis.
Moon said a second Trump-Kim summit could be accompanied by major diplomatic developments that could contribute to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and stabilizing peace.
Moon also said there was a possibility of Kim holding a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.<\/p>\n

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