International security

'Poker player' Xi made Trump think twice about Kim summit

U.S. President Donald Trump spoke these words on Tuesday as he described the Chinese leader's meddling with the U.S.-North Korea summit.

It was a prelude to Trump canceling the summit two days later.

The American leader had similarly expressed his displeasure toward Xi Jinping in a tweet. "The word is that recently the Border has become much more porous and more has been filtering in," Trump said, referring to the boundary between China and North Korea.

The cooperation between Washington and Beijing to stem the flows of goods and people across the border came to symbolize the warming relations between Trump and Xi. The trust had led the two to agree that if a U.S. military strike on North Korea were to take place, and a war were to erupt, it would not lead to a confrontation between the world's two major powers.

Trump's tweet was an expression of annoyance that this understanding had been broken.