White House official says US president wants to pursue 'running conversation'

US President Donald Trump is looking forward to meeting President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Germany to continue to build a constructive and results-oriented bilateral relationship, a senior White House official said on Wednesday.

The official made the remarks in a background briefing about the visit to the US by South Korea President Moon Jae-in, which started late Wednesday.

The official, whose name was not to be used for background briefing purposes, said that he doesn't have anything to announce in terms of the substance of the conversation.

"But I know that President Trump is looking to continuing his conversation, his running conversation that he has been having with Xi Jinping since Mar-a-Lago, and phone calls, and, of course, correspondence since then," he said.

"So he is looking forward to continuing what has been so far a constructive and results-oriented relationship between China and the United States," he added.

On June 22, Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi told Trump during their meeting at the White House that Xi looks forward to meeting him again during the G20 Summit and welcomes Trump to make a state visit to China this year.

Yang was in the US last week for the inaugural China-US Diplomatic and Security Dialogue (D&SD) held in Washington.

This year's G20 Summit, the 12th such meeting, will be held July 7-8 in Hamburg.

During their first meeting at Trump's estate in Florida in early April, the 45th US president accepted Xi's invitation for a state visit to China this year.

At the conclusion of the D&SD last week, China and the US recognized that maintaining close high-level exchanges is very important and are willing to make joint efforts to achieve positive outcomes for the Hamburg meeting between the two presidents and President Trump's state visit to China in 2017, according a press release from the Chinese delegation attending the talk last week.

Both Trump and Xi have spoken positively of the achievement at their Mar-a-Lago meeting. At the meeting, the two governments announced a new comprehensive dialogue mechanism, which includes the just-held D&SD, and the upcoming Comprehensive Economic Dialogue, Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity Dialogue, and Social and Cultural Issues Dialogue.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer confirmed on June 23 that Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, will also be visiting China later this year.

US news reports cited White House official as saying that the couple's visit will take place ahead of Trump's state visit. Ivanka Trump is an assistant to Trump, while Kushner is senior adviser to Trump.

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com