Xi Jinping, Rex Tillerson pledge cooperation over ‘regional hotspots’

He said those measures included fully implementing sanctions already approved by the United Nations Security Council, and bringing new states into talks on how to address North Korea.

Rex Tillerson, the USA secretary of state, has threatened military action against North Korea if it continues to develop its weapons programme after visiting the border between North and South.

North Korea has a long-standing ambition to become a nuclear power and conducted its first underground atomic test in 2006, in the teeth of global opposition.

“The entire course of trying to seek a solution to the Korean peninsula nuclear issue up to date has both had successes and failures”, said Wang.

But the threat of North Korea is imminent.

Speaking in Seoul, the South Korean capital, Mr Tillerson said that the “strategic patience” of the Obama administration was over but declined to say what would take its place. “So we have 20 years of a failed approach”, Tillerson said at a news conference with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida. On Friday in Seoul, he warned ominously that all options were on the table to counter the threat from Pyongyang.

There was no immediate reaction from North Korea but the country’s top newspaper Rodong Sinmun carried a commentary Saturday threatening to launch a devastating nuclear attack if the USA takes military action. However, on Saturday Tillerson didn’t rule out negotiations altogether. He noted that conditions are “not ripe” for any talks with the North, while calling on China to do more to induce a meaningful change in its behavior.

The North’s state news agency KCNA said Kim had overseen the rocket engine test and “emphasised that the whole world will soon witness what eventful significance the great victory won today carries” – a possible warning to Pyongyang’s adversaries.

Clinton was seen in Beijing as the architect of the USA “pivot” to Asia, something China was deeply suspicious of. That marked a sharp break with China, which favours careful diplomacy over heated rhetoric.

Wang said tensions had risen precisely because talks had broken down, and he urged all sides to get back to the negotiating table.

Trump had branded China a currency manipulator stealing American jobs and also threatened to impose 45 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods. “We hope all parties, including our friends from the United States, could size up the situation in a coolheaded and comprehensive fashion, and arrive at a wise decision”.

About 2,000 people have protested against the deployment of a U.S. missile system in the southeast of South Korea, saying the move could pose serious threats from North Korea. “So it is, to a large extent, for the U.S. and the DPRK to face to face, sit down and talk, and try to find a way to work out the problem”, he said, using the abbreviation for North Korea’s formal name – the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The U.S. has limited leverage with China, the country holding the second-most U.S. debt after Japan.

As Tillerson wrapped up his visit on Sunday, Chinese President Xi Jinping praised his “active efforts” in making a smooth transition of the U.S.

Ahead of Tillerson’s visit to China, Trump also put out a tweet to criticise Beijing’s role in dealing with North Korea.

Tensions have worsened following a series of ballistic missile tests by North Korea as it attempts to miniaturise a nuclear warhead able to be mounted on an inter-continental missile.