President Biden Calls China Must Try To Prevent North Korea's Nuclear Trials

President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden. (Twitter/@POTUS)

JAKARTA - United States President Joe Biden told Chinese leader Xi Jinping that Beijing has an obligation to try to talk to North Korea not to continue nuclear testing.

President Biden met with President Xi for more than three hours ahead of the G20 summit in Bali, so the first since he was sworn in in January last year.

In an evening press conference following the meeting, President Biden said he had warned President Xi the United States would do what it needed to defend itself and allies of South Korea and Japan, if North Korea continued nuclear weapons tests.

President Biden said the US response "may be higher before China", although it was not intended to go against it.

President Biden further said he told President Xi, "that I think they have an obligation to try to explain" to North Korea, they should not continue nuclear testing.

Asked to what extent he believed China had the ability to persuade Pyongyang not to conduct nuclear tests, President Biden said he was unsure whether Beijing "could control" his old neighbors and allies.

"It's hard to determine whether China has the capacity or not," Biden said.

"I believe China does not want North Korea to engage in further escalation methods," he continued.

In the event of a trial, President Biden added, "We have to take certain actions that will be more defensive on our behalf, and that will not be aimed at China, but will send a clear message to North Korea.

"We will defend our allies, as well as American soil and American capacity," he stressed.

North Korea has launched an unprecedented number of ballistic missiles this year.

Meanwhile, Washington has warned for months that it could test the nuclear bomb at any time.

The number of weapons tests that broke North Korea's record this year, including intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to reach the US mainland.

US officials accuse China and Russia of supporting Pyongyang for failing to properly enforce UN Security Council sanctions.

China and Russia supported tougher sanctions after North Korea's last nuclear test in 2017. But in May, both vetoed US-led initiatives to impose more UN sanctions, confined to the launch of Pyongyang ballistic missiles.