Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping told US counterpart Donald Trump on Monday that Sino-US relations have been hit by “negative factors” in a phone call following days of US actions that have vexed Beijing. Trump held separate calls with Xi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that focused on tensions on the Korean peninsula, but China’s foreign ministry said Xi also invoked the thorny issue of Taiwan. Trump infuriated Beijing last week when he approved a $1.3 billion arms sales to Taiwan, a self-governed island that Beijing considers a breakaway province awaiting reunification. In the phone call with Trump, Xi acknowledged that Sino-US relations “have achieved important results” since their April meeting, the foreign ministry said. In its readout of the conversation, the White House said Trump raised “the growing threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes”.

Source: Mint July 03, 2017 10:18 UTC