Saul Loeb
Chinese President Xi Jinping has appealed to President Trump to exercise “restraint” in his back-and-forth saber-rattling with North Korea. In a phone call between the two leaders on Saturday, Xi urged Trump to “avoid words and deeds that would exacerbate the tension on the Korean Peninsula,” state-run China Central Television reported. The call came on the heels of Trump’s Friday declaration that the U.S. is “locked and loaded” for a potential military showdown with Pyongyang, where leader Kim Jong Un has threatened to launch missiles at the U.S. territory of Guam. The ongoing war of words has spurred fears that the aggressive rhetoric will lead to a full-blown war, with Trump repeatedly hinting at missile strikes on North Korea amid reports the country’s nuclear capabilities are much more advanced than initially thought.