Chinese president Xi Jinping told his US counterpart Donald Trump that there have been “positive changes” on the Korean peninsula, state media said Tuesday following a phone call between the two leaders.
Trump has pushed Xi to increase economic and political pressure on North Korea in the hopes of convincing it to stop the development of its nuclear weapons program.
Tensions have been high after the North staged a flurry of nuclear and missile tests and leader Kim Jong-Un traded threats of war and personal attacks with Trump.
But in recent weeks there has been an apparent rapprochement, with the two Koreas meeting for the first time in two years and Pyongyang agreeing to send athletes to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea.
In the phone call, Xi “pointed out that the situation on the Korean peninsula has shown some positive changes,” according to the official Xinhua news service.
“All sides concerned should make joint efforts to keep up the hard-won momentum for the easing of the situation on the Korean peninsula and create conditions to restart talks,” he was quoted as saying.