PRESS RELEASE

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First Meeting of a Trump Cabinet Secretary with a Chinese Minister Proposes a ‘Good Partnership’

Feb. 17, 2017 (EIRNS)—U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met today with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for the first time, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting in Bonn, Germany. By all accounts, it was a productive working meeting, with Minister Wang telling Tillerson that the earlier conversation between President Xi and President Trump, was "very important."

The South China Morning Post says that the diplomats agreed that China and the U.S. "could become very good partners and should push forward bilateral relations." The report on the meeting by State Department spokesman Mark Toner, stressed the U.S. urging China to do more about North Korea.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the G20 meeting, where they discussed increasing the cooperation of the BRICS countries.

"The sides exchanged opinions on stepping up cooperation within the BRICS and G20 formats, expressing their readiness to assist the strengthening of principles of tolerancdgce and openness in the global trade, forming relevant multilateral mechanisms,"

the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.