"China's best case scenario, what it would really like to happen, would be a liberalized regime in the North, akin to some of the reforms that took place (in China) in the 1980s, so introducing economic reform, removing the concentrated power of the Kim family", Neill said.
Another step could be a ban on North Korean seafood exports, Pyongyang's fourth-largest export to China, its main trading partner, and expanded efforts to seize assets of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his family.
US President Donald Trump welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago state in Palm Beach, Florida, US, April 6, 2017.
Xi's comments came after Trump tweeted that China should do more on an issue that Washington sees as an increasingly urgent threat, or else the US would go it alone.
For the U.S., the Korean peninsula has been a relentless challenge of deterrence of the North, reassurance of the South, and regular management of crises.
China's Foreign Ministry said Trump initiated the call.
During the call with Trump, Xi said that China wants to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula but insists on doing so peacefully, according to a brief summary by the Chinese government.
The Trump administration's decision to send an aircraft carrier to waters off the Korean Peninsula is meant as a show of force, but it also could expose American weakness. Tension has escalated sharply on the Korean peninsula amid concerns that reclusive North Korea may soon conduct a sixth nuclear test. But the latest conversation followed a series of Trump tweets on Tuesday that suggested he might bargain aspects of his trade agenda for China's help pressuring Pyongyang.
More troops sent to fight gunmen on Philippine tourist island
Police and soldiers take position as they engage with the Abu Sayyaf group in the village of Napo, Inabanga town, Bolo province. Moammar Askali from the Abu Sayyaf group died alongside five of his men during a gun battle on the holiday island of Bohol.
The statement followed an assertion by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that U.S. missile strikes against a Syrian air base in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack carry a message for any nation operating outside of global norms.
He then accused North Korea of "looking for trouble" and said America would handle the threat itself if China decides not to help.
Mr Trump's tweet is underscored by some of the world's heaviest and most sophisticated firepower as a US Navy flotilla, led by the nuclear-armed megacarrier USS Carl Vinson, steams at full speed toward the Korean Peninsula.
Trying to pressure North Korea and China to be more flexible in a region where tensions are growing, he adds.
Around 200 foreign journalists are in Pyongyang as the country marks the 105th birth anniversary of its founding president Kim Il Sung on April 15, North Korea's biggest national day called "Day of the Sun". If not, we will solve the problem without them!
Trump said, "when I saw that, I said we have to do something".
China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, last month made the statesmanlike proposal that, in order to defuse the crisis and set the stage for negotiations, the USA and ROK should cancel the Foal Eagle exercises and the DPRK should suspend its nuclear and missile activities.
Beijing's insistence on a peaceful approach to resolving the issue is rooted in its belief that any attempt to denuclearize the North by force would bring cataclysmic results upon all sides, including China, Ruan said.
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