PRESS RELEASE
Trump and Xi Discuss North Korea in Telephone Dialogue
Nov. 30, 2017 (EIRNS)—President Donald Trump held another telephone consultation with Chinese President Xi Jinping following yesterday's North Korean a missile launch. In the latest of many telephone consultations, Xi restated that China’s "unswerving goals" are
"denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, maintaining international nuclear-nonproliferation regime, and preserving peace and stability in Northeast Asia,"
according to China’s state news agency Xinhua. Xi also said that China would "keep up communications with the United States and all other related parties, and jointly push the nuclear issue towards the direction of peaceful settlement via dialogues and negotiations."
Afterward Trump said via Twitter
"Just spoke to President Xi Jinping of China concerning the provocative actions of North Korea. Additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled!"
There was no mention of "additional major sanctions" in Xinhua’s report, but it did report that Trump saying that "Washington highly values China’s important role in solving the nuclear issue, and is willing to enhance communications and coordination with China in search for solutions to the issue."
The Nov. 29 White House readout of the call states, "President Donald J. Trump spoke today with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China to discuss North Korea’s latest missile launch. President Trump underscored the determination of the United States to defend ourselves and our allies from the growing threat posed by the North Korean regime. President Trump emphasized the need for China to use all available levers to convince North Korea to end its provocations and return to the path of denuclearization."
On the question of sanctions, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told media, "We have a long list of additional, potential sanctions, some of which involve ... financial institutions," when asked about possible measures as he posed for photos with the visiting Bahraini Crown Prince. "And the Treasury Department will be announcing those when they’re ready to roll out."
