U.S. President Donald Trump, upon returning to the country after concluding his visit to the UK, had a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the morning of the 19th (local time), marking their first conversation in over three months, as widely reported by foreign media. / Captured from WP Online. Foreign media outlets have urgently reported that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a phone call after more than three months, have agreed to meet at the 32nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to be held in Gyeongju next month.

According to a compilation of foreign media reports on the 19th (local time), President Trump, upon his return from the UK, spoke with President Xi for the first time in over three months since June. The two leaders engaged in in-depth discussions on major bilateral issues, including direct face-to-face contact.

In particular, it is understood that they had a direct exchange of views regarding a meeting between the two countries during the 32nd APEC summit to be held in Gyeongju in late October, and an agreement in principle to meet was reached.

On the same day, President Trump stated on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he had a "productive call and agreed to meet." He added, "I will be visiting China early next year, and President Xi will also visit the U.S. at an appropriate time."

If President Trump's visit to China materializes, it will be the first time a U.S. president has visited China in eight years. He last visited China in November 2017 during his first term.

President Trump further wrote that during his call with President Xi, "We made progress on trade, fentanyl, and the need to end the war between Ukraine and Russia, and we agreed to speak again." He also expressed gratitude, stating, "I am grateful for approving the sale of TikTok. Both sides are looking forward to meeting at APEC."

Conversely, China's state-run media, Xinhua News Agency, reported that President Xi stated, "The Chinese government respects the will of enterprises and desires a solution where interests are balanced," while being reserved about the "TikTok approval."

The slight discrepancy in their statements can be interpreted as President Xi essentially conceding, considering President Trump's characteristic preemptive communication style of publicly announcing private agreements. According to Xinhua News Agency, President Xi requested, "Please provide a business environment for Chinese companies that is not discriminatory in the United States."

As of this moment, specific details regarding any other private agreements made between the leaders of the two countries have not yet been reported by foreign media.

Earlier, the phone call between the leaders of the two countries was first disclosed by the Chinese side. Reuters reported that China's state-run People's Daily confirmed President Xi's call with President Trump, while a White House official responded to CNBC, stating that the call between the two leaders began at 8 a.m. Eastern Time on the same day.

Foreign media outlets have analyzed that during the call, the two leaders discussed measures to ease tensions between the two countries, including an agreement on the acquisition of China's TikTok by U.S. capital and the continuation of its business in the U.S., as well as trade negotiations, tariffs, and export controls on rare earth minerals and semiconductors. It appears that the U.S. has indeed obtained approval regarding TikTok.

The TikTok issue, in particular, has been a core agenda item for this call from an early stage, viewed from the perspective of whether to protect "information sovereignty" or hand it over to an adversary nation, amidst growing concerns in the U.S. about manipulation of public opinion through social media.

Even during his visit to the UK, President Trump told reporters at Chequers, the Prime Minister's country retreat in Aylesbury, central England, that he planned to discuss whether an agreement on TikTok could be finalized during his call with President Xi on the 19th. He strongly suggested the possibility of allowing TikTok's business in the U.S., stating, "TikTok has enormous value, and the U.S. has that value in its hands. The entity that approves TikTok is the United States."

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also stated that "Washington and Beijing have laid the groundwork for the U.S. operations of social media platforms" during high-level U.S.-China trade negotiations held in Madrid, Spain, on the 14th-15th, though details were not disclosed at the time. President Trump also remarked that "U.S.-China relations are very strong," and this statement led to speculation that he might meet with President Xi at APEC, as interpreted by The Washington Post (WP).

Reuters predicted that President Trump and President Xi were discussing the possibility of holding bilateral talks during the APEC summit to be held in Gyeongju from late October to early November. This prediction was realized through President Trump's social media posts.

According to Newsmax, bipartisan members of Congress have broadly supported legislation on TikTok to prevent foreign hostile forces from using social media apps for surveillance or manipulation purposes and to protect Americans. China, on the other hand, has consistently denied any evidence that the app poses a threat to U.S. national security.

As Joe Biden signed the bill into law in April of last year, TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, was facing a suspension of its U.S. app operations by January of this year. Consequently, ByteDance was presented with an ultimatum to either sell the platform to a U.S. entity or cease operations and withdraw from the U.S.

President Trump extended the deadline on his first day in office, January 19th, and granted three additional extensions. Most recently, he extended the deadline to December 16th via an executive order on the 16th. He is reportedly believed to have personal benefit from TikTok in his re-election and views it as valuable enough to exert favorable influence on the U.S. if he gains control of its governance.

In this regard, Newsmax noted that many questions remain unanswered regarding the transaction between the two parties. It pointed out that the exact ownership structure of TikTok and its parent company ByteDance, the extent of control China will maintain, and whether Congress will approve it, remain uncertain.

Meanwhile, prior to this call, China made a gesture of goodwill by suddenly allowing the departure of Mao Chenwei, an executive at U.S. commercial bank Wells Fargo, who had been visiting China and was unable to return to the U.S. for months, making a preemptive effort to foster a mood of thawing relations.

By Reporter Heo Gyeom