One of the goals of US President Donald Trump in his trip to China and Asia next month is to pressure Chinese President Xi Jinping to do more than just speak to North Korea due to America's belief that Xi's consolidation of power in the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China should give him more authority to do more.
Trump will begin his Asia trip on November 3, which will take him to Japan, China, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines. This will be the first trip of the US President in Asia since he took office in January. His main goal for this trip is to prevent the possible North Korean faceoff and spiral out of control.
Xi is currently busy with the Party Congress, which is believed to enable him to consolidate his control and power over the party and of the country beyond 2022, before the next congress takes place.
Trump believes that Xi is the key to help resolve the North Korean crisis. One US official said that "The president's view is you have even less of an excuse now. He's not going to step lightly."
Trump also wishes to gain some more action from China to persuade Pyongyang to change its stance on its nuclear weapons program or help the international community to deprive Pyongyang of resources that would force it to change its mind. He even gave immense praise to the Chinese leader in the past few weeks in hopes of getting more Chinese support and even held back from the trade measures he originally wished to impose on China.
In an interview with Fox Business, Trump said that he wishes to remain low-key until Xi finishes the party congress. he also added in the interview - set to air on Sunday, "I believe he's got the power to do something very significant with respect to North Korea. We'll see what happens. Now with that being said, we're prepared for anything. We are so prepared, like you wouldn't believe."
Tensions between North Korea and the US have escalated due to the heated exchanges of both leaders with Trump using his speech in the UN General Assembly that Kim Jong Un was a "rocket man on a suicide mission" and that the US will "Totally destroy" North Korea if threatened further. Kim, on his end, commented that the US may face an "unimaginable strike" from North Korea if it is provoked.
On Thursday, CIA chief Mike Pompeo said that it is possible that North Korea is just "months" away from developing fully a nuclear weapon that can hit the US.
