TRUMP SAYS CHAT WITH CHINA WAS ‘WARM’

Mr Trump described his telephone talks with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as “very warm,” while he reassured Japan that improved US-Chinese ties were not a threat to Tokyo.

“We had a very, very good talk last night, and discussed a lot of subjects. It was a long talk,” Mr Trump told a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

He said he and Mr Xi were “in the process of getting along very well, and I think it will be very much of a benefit to Japan.”

Earlier, Mr Trump rounded on the New York Times over his interactions with Mr Xi in one of his trademark Twitter attacks.

Calling the paper’s reporting “FAKE NEWS” he called to account a story saying the Chinese President and he had not spoken since November after they spoke on Thursday evening, Washington time.

During the long-awaited call the leaders discussed “numerous” topics at length and Mr Trump agreed to honour the “one China” policy, the White House said — though it said Mr Trump did so “at the request of President Xi.”

It described the call as “extremely cordial” and said the two leaders had invited each other to visit their respective countries and looked forward to further discussions.

More than two months after deviating from decades of American diplomacy regarding Taiwan by accepting a phone call from the self-governing island’s president, Mr Trump appeared to be trying to reassure Beijing he would not seek to up-end relations between the world’s two-largest economies.