WASHINGTON: China’s top diplomat told Donald Trump that Beijing was willing to keep working with Washington to defuse tensions on the Korean peninsula — days after the US leader implied that Chinese efforts had failed.

The meeting between State Councillor Yang Jiechi and Trump at the White House on Thursday also came after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged China to step up diplomatic and economic pressure on the North over its nuclear weapons.

The meeting was reported by China’s foreign ministry. There was no White House statement on the get-together, which had not been mentioned in the president’s daily schedule.

“China is willing to maintain communication and coordination with relevant parties including the United States to ease tensions on the peninsula,” Yang said, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

Trump told Yang he looked forward to “enhancing cooperation” with China on the denuclearisation of the North, the ministry said in a statement.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2017