It's complicated: China torn on Trump, Kim talks

When China called on the United States to engage in direct talks with North Korea, it probably never imagined it would be absent from the table. Beijing, which chaired failed international talks on North Korea that collapsed a decade ago, has long seen itself as central to the negotiations to end Pyongyang's nuclear program. But when US President Donald Trump agreed last week to hold a historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a yet-to-be-decided day and place, China was nowhere to be seen. Chinese President Xi Jinping has not even met Kim since the young North Korean autocrat took power following his father's death in 2011. While China remains North Korea's only ally and main economic lifeline, relations between the two neighbours have soured as Xi, under pressure from Trump, has backed a slew of UN sanctions to punish Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile tests. In a Friday phone call with Trump, Xi praised the US leader's "positive" move, saying he hoped the US and North Korea would start talking as soon as possible and that China was devoted to solving the nuclear issue through dialogue. When China called on the United States to engage in direct talks with North Korea, it probably never imagined it would be absent from the table. Beijing, which chaired failed international talks on North Korea that collapsed a decade ago, has long seen itself as central to the negotiations to end Pyongyang's nuclear program. But when US President Donald Trump agreed last week to hold a historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a yet-to-be-decided day and place, China was nowhere to be seen. Chinese President Xi Jinping has not even met Kim since the young North Korean autocrat took power following his father's death in 2011. While China remains North Korea's only ally and main economic lifeline, relations between the two neighbours have soured as Xi, under pressure from Trump, has backed a slew of UN sanctions to punish Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile tests. In a Friday phone call with Trump, Xi praised the US leader's "positive" move, saying he hoped the US and North Korea would start talking as soon as possible and that China was devoted to solving the nuclear issue through dialogue.