U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he hoped his May or early June summit with the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea would be a success, and that there would have lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.
"I hope to have a very successful meeting (with Kim)," Trump said at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida.
"We hope to see the day when the whole Korean Peninsula can live together in safety, prosperity and peace," the president told a joint press conference with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
China's Foreign Ministry said Beijing welcomes the direct contacts and talks between the U.S. and the DPRK and hopes their dialogue will be held smoothly and achieve a positive outcome.
"We hope that all relevant parties will begin and continue with their talks, accumulate mutual trust and build up consensus," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in Beijing on Wednesday.
"We expect them to follow the 'dual track' approach to advance the political settlement process of the Korean Peninsula issue, so as to promote and achieve the denuclearization on the one hand and establish the peace regime of the peninsula on the other hand," she said.
A dual-track approach emphasizes efforts to denuclearize the peninsula and establish the peace regime in parallel.
Hua also said that as a close neighbor to the peninsula, China is willing to continue with its constructive role in promoting the settlement of the peninsula issue in the right direction.
Trump tweeted earlier on Wednesday that a "smooth" meeting had already taken place between his CIA chief Mike Pompeo and the DPRK leader Kim Jong-un and "a good relationship was formed", and "details of summit are being worked out now."
In his talk with the media, however, Trump reiterated that the summit might not happen.
"If I think that it's a meeting that is not going to be fruitful, we're not going to go," he said, according to Reuters. "If the meeting when I'm there is not fruitful, I will respectfully leave the meeting."
Trump and Abe said they had agreed to intensify trade consultations to expand investment and trade, according to the report.
"On the U.S. side, they are interested in a bilateral deal," Abe told reporters. "Our country's position is that TPP is the best for both of our countries."
Trump said, "I don't want to go back into TPP, but if they offered us a deal that I can't refuse on behalf of the United States, I would do it."
