US President Donald Trump arrived in South Korea on Wednesday for the final leg of his Asia trip, expressing optimism about reaching a trade truce with Chinese President Xi Jinping after a summit with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
Trump left Tokyo for South Korea just hours after North Korea tested a nuclear-capable cruise missile. The US president is scheduled to address a summit of CEOs in Gyeongju on Wednesday and meet with Lee.
South Korea’s presidential office said it would welcome Trump with a replica gold crown and award him the “Grand Order of Mugunghwa”, the country’s highest decoration.
Are relations between America and China improving?
Trump’s visit is looming over an unresolved trade agreement between the United States and South Korea. He is expected to meet Xi in South Korea on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Gyeongju, Trump appeared unfazed by North Korea’s missile test and said he was focused on his meeting with Xi.
The US President said, “Relations with China are very good. So I think that will actually have very good results for our country and the world.”
Trump said he hoped “a lot of problems” would be resolved in talks with Xi.
The US President said he hoped the first face-to-face talks of his second term would result in Washington reducing tariffs imposed on Beijing regarding fentanyl.
Trump also said he was “not sure” whether he would discuss the sensitive topic of self-ruled Taiwan during his meeting with the Chinese leader.
Trump said on Monday that the United States and China are close to a trade deal after weekend talks at the ASEAN summit in Malaysia.
China will not rule out using force to counter Taiwan’s ambitions
But China was not going to back down from this topic. Peng Qingen, spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told a news conference in Beijing that peaceful “reunification” under the “one country, two systems” model is the fundamental approach to “resolving the Taiwan issue.”
“We are willing to create adequate space for peaceful reunification and will leave no stone unturned in pursuing this possibility wholeheartedly,” he said. “However, we will not abandon the use of force and will reserve the option to take all necessary measures.”
Trump has talked about a possible meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un elsewhere during this trip, but there has been no comment on the matter from Pyongyang. Kim had earlier said that he was ready for talks if America stopped urging him to give up nuclear weapons.
Edited by: Dmytro Lyubenko