After landing on the Beijing International Airport on Wednesday, Trump met his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in the Great Hall of the People and visited the Forbidden City. Earlier, in his last speech in South Korea to the National Assembly of that country, he delivered some of his harshest lines against North Korea, a message that was loaded with specific accusations of human rights abuses in Pyongyang.

Addressing his words directly to Kim, Trump insisted: "The weapons you are acquiring are not increasing your security, they are putting your regime in grave danger. Every step he takes on this dark path elevates the dangers he faces". "Do not underestimate us and do not put us to the test", he warned. In his appearance, he also asked Beijing to stop supporting North Korea, which has China as its largest trading partner. "You can not support, you can not provide, you can not accept", he said, calling on "all nations, including China and Russia" to fully implement the recent resolutions of the United Nations Security Council on North Korea.

Trump is expected to ask China to reduce its relations with Pyongyang and expel the North Korean workers. Trump has praised China for taking some measures against North Korea, but urged them to do more because members of the US government believe that the border between the two countries remains a commercial corridor. Trump resumed his harsh rhetoric against North Korea, a day after he seemed to moderate a position that had sparked fears of a military conflict across East Asia. On Tuesday, Trump even offered a diplomatic opening to "reach an agreement".

In his speech on Wednesday he went mostly to the offensive, but promised a "way to a much better future" for North Korea if he stopped the development of ballistic missiles and agreed to "a complete, total and verifiable denuclearization", something that Pyongyang has promised that he will never do The speech came after Trump had to abort an unannounced visit to the border separating South Korea and North Korea on Wednesday, because a thick haze prevented his helicopter from landing.

In search of a balance

In his first visit to China as president, Trump plans to meet again with his Chinese counterpart tomorrow, when he will preside over the holding of a business forum and the signing of several bilateral agreements in the Great Hall of the People.

The visit follows the meeting that Xi and Trump held in April at the private residence of the American tycoon in Mar-a-Lago (Florida, USA), a meeting that marked differences between two governments traditionally confronted by commercial issues and ideological differences. Meanwhile, companies from China and the United States signed today almost twenty trade agreements valued at 9,000 million dollars, during the first day of Trump's visit to Beijing.

The 19 agreements, which include sectors such as energy, aeronautics or agriculture, were signed at a ceremony chaired by US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Chinese Vice Premier for Economic Affairs Wang Yang at the Great Hall of the People.