President Donald Trump on Friday said he had a “very, very warm conversation” with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders spoke Thursday, and Trump pledged to honor the “One China” policy.
Trump brought up the call when he was asked Friday at a White House press conference about his administration’s planned stance on China, in light of the country’s military posturing in the South China Sea, and North Korea’s continued attempts at a nuclear-capable missile program.
“I had a very, very good conversation, as most of you know, yesterday with the president of China,” Trump said in a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “It was a very, very warm conversation. I think we are on the process of getting along very well, and I think that we’ll also be very much of a benefit to Japan, so we had a very, very good talk last night, and discussed a lot of subjects.”
“It was a long talk, and we are working on that as we speak,” he continued. “We have conversations with various representatives of China. I believe that it will all work out very well for everybody, China and Japan, the United States and everybody in the region.”
On Thursday, the White House announced that Trump had affirmed the United States’ commitment to the “One China” policy on his call with Xi. That was a dramatic — and welcome, to many — change in posture after Trump accepted a call from the president of Taiwan in early December.
Trump also said in the press conference that he believed “we will all eventually, and probably very much sooner than a lot of people understand or think, we will be all at a level playing field,” with regard to what he has called China’s manipulation of the value of its currency.