News Obiaks News

U.S. President Donald Trump has called on his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping to hasten his efforts in neutralising the North Korean nuclear threat.

While speaking at the the Great Hall of the People, the ceremonial heart of Communist party rule, Trump lavished praise on his "warm and gracious" host and said he appreciated Xi's support for recent efforts to rein in Kim Jong-un's weapons programs.

"But time is quickly running out. We must act fast, and hopefully China will act faster and more effectively on this problem than anyone," Trump – who landed in Beijing the previous afternoon as part of his 12-day Asia tour – told an audience of business leaders and journalists.

"China can fix this problem easily and quickly and I am calling on China and your great president to hopefully work on it very hard.

"I know one thing about your president: if he works on it hard it will happen," the US president added, to laughter. "There is no doubt about it."

"Right now, unfortunately, it is a very one-sided and unfair [relationship]. But – but – I don't blame China," he went on. "After all, who can blame a country for taking advantage of another country for the benefit of its own citizens? I give China great credit.

"But in actuality I do blame past administrations for allowing this out of control trade deficit to take place and to grow. We have to fix this because it just doesn't work … it is just not sustainable."