After weeks of will they or won't they,...the most highly-anticipated coming together of world leaders in quite some time WILL happen next week in Japan.
Despite the blazing trade tensions,... we now have confirmation U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have a lengthy face-to-face on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka.
Aside from trade, North Korea's denuclearization is also expected to be on the agenda.
Ko Roon-hee reports.
U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled a possible easing of trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.
Trump tweeted Tuesday that he spoke over the phone with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping ...and said they will have an extended meeting at next week's G20 Summit in Osaka.
President Trump added their respective teams will begin lower-level talks prior to his face-to-face with President Xi in Japan.
Speaking to reporters on the same day, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow declined to provide details on the specifics of the preparations...but emphasized that Beijing must make structural changes for a trade deal.
"Our position will continue to be - we want structural changes here. We want structural changes on all the items, theft of the IP, forced transfers of technology, cyber hacking, of course, trade barriers. We've got to have something that's enforceable."
China's state broadcaster CCTV also announced that President Xi is ready to meet Trump in Osaka to exchange views on China-U.S. relations.
President Xi said he expects positive outcomes at the G20 Summit...and in terms of trade, he stressed the two sides should solve their problems through dialogue on equal footing.
This comes after the world's biggest economies have put tariffs on around 360 billion U.S. dollars' worth of each other's goods since last year.
Their trade negotiations ended in May without a deal and since then, Washington and Beijing have been blaming each other for the collapse of the talks.
Presidents Trump and Xi are also expected to discuss issues related to the Korean peninsula, such as North Korea's denuclearization,...because the G20 meeting will fall a week after President Xi travels to Pyeongyang.
An analyst told the South China Morning Post that China may be using North Korea as leverage amid its trade conflict with the U.S.
Ko Roon-hee, Arirang News.