Trump, Xi discuss Korean Peninsula, Syria over phone

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday held a telephone conversation with his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, and discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in Syria.

Xi said that China sticks to the target of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and that China is committed to peace and stability of the peninsula.

China holds that the issue should be solved through peaceful means, said Xi, adding that his country is ready to maintain communication and coordination with the United States on the issue.

On Syria, Xi said that any use of chemical weapons is unacceptable and that the path of political settlement should be followed.

He expressed the hope that the UN Security Council would speak in one voice as it is important for the Security Council to remain united over the issue.

Xi also asked teams of China and the United States to work together closely to make sure that Trump's visit to China later this year could achieve fruitful results.

He also urged the two sides to promote economic cooperation, expand exchanges in military, law enforcement, cyber and people-to-people areas, enhance communication and coordination in major global and regional issues,through the newly established four-pronged dialogue mechanism.

He expressed the hope that the dialogue mechanism will yield as many early-stage results as possible so as to inject impetus to bilateral relations.

The four-pronged dialogue mechanism, which covers the fields of foreign affairs and security, economy, law enforcement and cybersecurity, social and people-to-people exchanges, is an important result of Xi's meeting with Trump in Florida.

Xi said his recent tete-a-tete with Trump in the latter's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida has produced important results, which have won positive response among the Chinese people and the international community.

The two leaders held in-depth discussions and reached important consensus on bilateral relations in the new era and on major global and regional issues, said Xi.

He and Trump have increased mutual understanding and established sound working relations, he added.

In Wednesday's phone conversation, Trump said the meeting with Xi at Mar-a-Lago was a success. It is very important for the two presidents to maintain close communication, he added.

Trump agreed that the two sides should work together to promote pragmatic cooperation in wide-ranging areas.

He said he was looking forward to his state visit to China this year.

The two presidents agreed to keep close communication through all kinds of channels.