Xi Jinping

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has urged Chinese officials to apply greater diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea to force Pyongyang to rein in its nuclear weapons program.

President Donald Trump said on June 20 that Chinese efforts to persuade North Korea to rein in its nuclear program have failed, ratcheting up the rhetoric over the death of an American student who had been detained by Pyongyang.

ASTANA - Along with world and regional leaders including Russian and Chinese Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic late Friday attended the ceremonial opening of Astana Expo 2017, which has brought together over 110 countries and 20 organisations.

PHOTO: TANJUG / MARKO DJOKOVIC

President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday in Kazakhstan that Serbia is "building a new image and a new face" not only toward the West but also the East.

President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday in Kazakhstan that Serbia is "building a new image and a new face" not only toward the West but also the East.

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will from Thursday be paying a three-day visit to Astana, where he will attend the international Expo 2017 as a special guest of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The opening ceremony will also be attended by a large number of world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Several Asian nations are seeking to bolster informal alliances among themselves, regional diplomats and officials said, unsettled by growing fears that the United States could not be relied on to maintain a buffer against China's assertiveness.

China and the European Union will seek on June 2 to save an international pact against climate change from which U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be set to withdraw.

The Chinese government charged on May 25 that a U.S. warship had entered its waters in the South China Sea "without permission", prompting Beijing's navy to warn the vessel to leave.

China yesterday sidestepped claims by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte that it had threatened to go to war over the disputed South China Sea.

Duterte, who met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing last week, said May 19 that the leaders had raised conflict as an option to resolving their competing claims to the waters.