The world is facing a “critical time”, top US diplomat John Kerry told China’s President Xi Jinping on Saturday, citing tensions on the Korean peninsula, Iran’s nuclear programme and the conflict in Syria.
“Mr President, this is obviously a critical time with some very challenging issues,” Kerry told Xi in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
“Issues on the Korean peninsula, the challenge of Iran and nuclear weapons, Syria and the Middle East, and economies around the world that are in need of a boost.”
Kerry arrived from South Korea earlier to press Beijing to help defuse soaring nuclear tensions on the Korean peninsula ahead of an expected missile launch by the North, which conducted a nuclear test in February and a rocket test last December.
Beijing is Pyongyang’s sole major ally and its key provider of aid and trade, and is seen as having unique leverage over the government of Kim Jong-Un, which has issued repeated threats of nuclear war.
But Xi did not refer to the Korean peninsula or other issues raised by Kerry in his opening remarks at the meeting, instead saying that the US-China relationship was “at a new historical stage and has got off to a good start”.
