US President Donald Trump has said Chinese President Xi Jinping has been putting pressure on North Korea but nothing seems to be happening, days after Pyongyang carried out another provocative missile test which heightened tensions in the Korean peninsula.
“He (Xi is going to have to do what he has to do. But he understands we are not going to be very happy,” Trump told CBS News.
“And I will tell you, a man that I’ve gotten to like and respect, Xi, I believe has been putting pressure on him (North Korean leader Kim Jong-un) also. But so far, perhaps nothing has happened and perhaps it has. This was a small missile. This was not a big missile. This was not a nuclear test, which he was expected to do three days ago. We’ll see what happens,” he said.
The US president said he would not be happy if North Korea conducts a nuclear test.
“If he does a nuclear test, I will not be happy. And I can tell you also, I don’t believe that the president of China, who is a very respected man, will be happy either,” he said without elaborating further.
“I don’t know. I mean, we’ll see,” he said when asked about the possibility of a military action in the wake of a nuclear test.
In an interview to ABC news, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said Trump will never make his decisions public.
“The president is someone who’s made it very clear that he’s not going to telegraph his next moves. He’s not going to put out the plan for North Korea in ‘The New York Times’ or ‘The Washington Post’.
“He’s working with (Defence Secretary) general (retd) James Mattis. He’s working with (Secretary of State) Rex Tillerson. He’s working with (National Security Adviser) general (retd) H R McMaster and his team and making determinations of how to move forward in a pretty delicate, complicated matter,” he said.