Cary Huang

Opinion | As North Korea tests US-China ties, Xi and Trump look to put the bilateral relationship first

Cary Huang says while Trump has made a point with strikes on Syria and warships in the western Pacific, Xi’s reference to a ‘thousand reasons’ to get relations right shows China is aware of the need to rein in Pyongyang

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Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping with first ladies Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan, before dinner at Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, on April 6. Photo: AP

Cary Huang

Published: 12:59pm, 12 Apr 2017Updated: 7:26pm, 12 Apr 2017

The first face-to-face meeting between US President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping (習近平), at Trump’s private estate in Florida, was designed as an informal, get-to-know-you, kind of diplomacy.

But the relationship-building exercise wrapped up on a surprisingly upbeat note, as Trump talked of “the tremendous goodwill and friendship” between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies and most influential nations, while Xi suggested “a thousand reasons to get China-US relations right, and not one reason to spoil the China-US relationship”.

Watch: Trump says he has developed a friendship with Xi

However, the real test of such rapport came no sooner than Xi had left the US, as the possibility emerged of US military action against North Korea – which counts China as its main ally – with Trump ordering a strike group led by the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson to sail into the western Pacific. This possibility gained traction following US missile strikes against Syria last week, even as Trump and Xi sat down for a formal dinner. It was further fuelled by overwhelming fears that North Korea is close to acquiring the capacity to launch nuclear warheads as far as the US west coast. Pyongyang celebrates several major anniversaries this month, and it often marks the occasions with major tests of military hardware.

The summit at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago estate apparently failed to reach concrete agreement on the North Korea issue, as Trump told Xi that Washington is “prepared to chart their own course”.

Some analysts viewed the timing of the US strike on Syria as no coincidence, seeing it as a prod to China to do more to dismantle Kim Jong-un’s nuclear programme, or a blunt message to Xi that the US might act soon, even without more robust Chinese help.

China has opposed all US military operations overseas, including those in the Middle East, such as its intervention in Libya in 2011 and the Iraq invasion in 2003.