U.S., China finalizing plans for Trump, Xi meeting

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States and China are finalizing plans for a summit between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago this April, but diplomats are struggling to remove last-minute stumbling blocks, AFP said.

Officials in both countries told AFP that Trump has tentatively agreed to host Xi to his Florida resort in early April -- significant outreach after the mogul's bareknuckle anti-Chinese election rhetoric.

But according to officials, the plan is running up against differences over how to deal with issues like North Korea, what "deliverables" can come out of the talks and anger over leaks before the meeting was finalized.

The White House is pressing China to make commitments that would help curb North Korea's weapons of mass destruction programs -- which may soon be capable of delivering a nuke to the western United States.

China has been reluctant to lean on its smaller neighbor, and fears the United States is trying to increase its influence on the Korean peninsula.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's visit to Beijing is being seen as a make-or-break moment in deciding whether Xi's visit goes ahead.

Before his arrival there Saturday, March 11, Tillerson warned two decades of efforts to stop North Korea's nuclear ambitions have failed.