Kim-Trump summit, trade frictions head agenda

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's first official visit to China on Thursday will focus on discussions over how to implement agreements achieved during the historic North Korea-US summit and to properly address ongoing China-US trade frictions, Chinese observers said on Wednesday.

At the invitation of Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the top US diplomat will visit China on Thursday. The two sides will exchange ideas on bilateral ties and major international and regional issues of mutual concern, with the US side briefing China about the US-North Korea leaders' meeting in Singapore, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a regular press conference on Wednesday.

Through the event, China hopes the two sides could enhance mutual understanding, seek ways to properly handle and manage disputes, strengthen cooperation, and push bilateral ties forward along the right track, Geng noted.

The visit would mark Pompeo's first formal visit to China since he took office in April, and take place closely following the historic North Korea-US leaders' summit on Tuesday.

China's foreign ministry has not disclosed further specifics for the event as of press time, whereas the US official tweeted soon after the summit on Tuesday, revealing that his trip to Beijing is "to continue to build the dream to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

During the summit held on Tuesday in Singapore's resort island of Sentosa, US President Donald Trump and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un signed a joint statement where the two leaders agreed to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for security guarantees of North Korea, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The US-North Korea agreements are frameworks at best, waiting to be processed into tangible stages before implementation, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University's Institute of International Relations in Beijing, told the Global Times.

As the US side increasingly recognizes the China-proposed "double suspension" and "dual track approach" as the best option to handle the Korean Peninsula issues and the irreplaceable role played by a cooperative China on the matter, it would be on the top of Pompeo's agenda to listen to China's opinion on how to transform the agreements into reality, Li added.

Also, talks on properly addressing China-US trade friction will inevitably take place during Pompeo's stay in Beijing, Liu Weidong, a research fellow at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

It would be inconsistent with the upbeat momentum achieved on the Korean Peninsula issues and US seeking higher cooperation with China on the matter, if the US insists to slap such a heavy blow to China in the trade sector, Liu said.

It is reasonable to expect a compromise tariff plan in possible form of a postponed date, a shrunken range or a discounted scale from the US side, Liu noted.