Trump will skip DMZ, plans to press China on North Korea
WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump's 11-day swing through Asia will include meetings to press Chinese leaders to be tougher on North Korea and more pliable on economic issues. But he will skip the Korean Demilitarized Zone to make time for meetings like ones he will have with the strongman leader of the Philippines, with whom aides say he has a "warm rapport."
China's ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, told reporters on Monday that his government has been "doing everything we can on the (North) Korean issue," according to a transcript shared by the White House Correspondents' Association. But a senior Trump administration official a day later said there is "clearly" more that China could do to change the North's behavior as its largest trading partner and lone remaining ally.
"The Chinese have done a great deal" in pressuring Kim Jong Un to give up his nuclear weapons, "more than, I think, many expected they would do," the senior official told reporters during a briefing to preview Trump's trip, which starts Friday.
_CQ Roll Call
