News / Foreign Policy

Trump hails 'outstanding' relationship with Chinese leader

Friday, 07 April 2017 6:20 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 08 April 2017 2:35 AM ]

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) with US President Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida, April 7, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

US President Donald Trump has announced an "outstanding" relationship following a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

In a brief appearance before reporters on Friday, Trump said that he and Xi made "tremendous progress" in their first face-to-face talks and that he believes "lots of very potentially bad problems will be going away."

The two days of talks at Trump's private estate in Florida were expected to focus on what Trump has elaborated as China's unfair trade practices and inadequate efforts to halt North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile program.

According to Xi, the delegation talked over important issues and a good and working relationship was established.

He added that China and US can and would continue developing their relationship and further emphasized that both countries were responsible in terms of working toward peace and stability.

The talks came amid US firing dozens of cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield in response to this week's alleged chemical attack in the Arab country that it has blamed on the government.

Khan Sheikhun, the area of a suspected chemical weapons attack on the town that killed at least 70 people on April 4, 2107. (Photo by AFP)

With regards to the US attack in Syria, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Friday that China opposed the use of chemical weapons by any party under any circumstances,

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US launches missile strike against Syria

The US president brought his top economic and national security advisers to Florida for the meeting, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

Chinese officials worried that the unpredictable Trump could publicly embarrass Xi, after several foreign leaders experienced awkward moments with the new US president. Trump pledged during his 2016 presidential election campaign to stop what he called the theft of US factory jobs by China and rebuild America’s manufacturing base.