Tillerson arrives in China for talks on North Korea
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has arrived in China for talks on how to rein in nuclear-armed North Korea. The two powers are at odds over the best way to deal with threats from the rogue state.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday after touching town in Beijing for the final leg of his East Asia tour.
He was expected to meet China's top foreign policy official Yang Jiechi later in the day, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official said. A possible sit-down with President Xi Jinping on Sunday has not yet been confirmed.
The talks are expected to focus on North Korea's nuclear program, territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and trade.
Hours before Tillerson's arrival in China, US President Donald Trump accused North Korea in a tweet of "behaving very badly" and said China, the North's main trading partner, "had done little to help."
Tougher stance towards Pyongyang
Tillerson has used his first Asia tour as secretary of state to outline the Trump administration's tougher line on North Korea.
During a press conference in South Korea on Friday, Tillerson said the US policy of "strategic patience" with Pyongyang was over, telling reporters that pre-emptive military action was "on the table" if the threat from North Korea's weapons program escalates.
China has yet to respond to the comments.
North Korea conducted two nuclear test explosions and 24 ballistic missile tests last year, and experts estimate it could soon have a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the US. Nordkorea Raketentest bei Hwasong (Reuters/KCNA)
North Korea's neighbors are troubled by the state's continued missile activities
Different approach
Washington has been pressing Beijing to do more to curb its rogue neighbor's nuclear and missile programs.
Chinese officials have agreed to UN Security Council resolutions sanctioning North Korea, while at the same time calling for renewed diplomatic talks.
China has suggested that North Korea could suspend its missile activities in return for the US and South Korea halting their annual joint military drills. But Washington has rejected that proposal.
Foreign Minister Wang warned last week that the North on one side and Washington and Seoul on the other were like "two accelerating trains" headed at each other, with neither side willing to back down. Beijing has also criticized the deployment of an anti-missile system earlier this month by the US and South Korea, which it fears will affect the power balance in the region.
Tillerson began his three-nation trip in Japan on Wednesday before flying to South Korea.