[Vause:] Chinese President XI Jinping arrives in the U.S. on Thursday for a summit with President Trump. The two leaders will not meet in Washington, but rather at Mr. Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The growing threat from North Korea and trade expected to dominate these talks. Paula Hancocks standing by live in Seoul, South Korea; also Matt Rivers in Beijing. Matt, if you look at the situation in China, close to election year, and got a big Congress leadership decision coming later in the year. So Xi Jinping a good successful summit, won't do him any harm.
[Matt Rivers, Cnn Asia-pacific Editor:] No, absolutely not. He is in the middle of trying to consolidate his political power in China ahead of that big Congress later this year. He's trying to get the people loyal to him to hire positions within the Communist Party. To do so, he has to walk a very fine line when he goes to Florida. On the one hand, he has to appease his party's hardliners who are not thrilled with the kind of rhetoric we heard from Candidate Trump and President Trump about China. He has to stand up to President Trump in the eyes of hardliners in China. On the other hand, President XI is overseeing an economy that is gradually slowing down and it needs the United States and that economic relationship that China depends on with the U.S., the exports it sends the U.S., to make sure China's economy doesn't have a hard-crash landing and rather has a gradual transition into a more mature economy. So President XI has to play both sides. He has to look every bit the statesman, the strong leader, the strong man the hardliners in China want. On the other hand, he can't go too far because he doesn't want to goad President Trump into putting up protectionist trade barriers that could hurt China's economy in the long run.
[Vause:] Paula, the U.S. president made it clear he wants China to do more to try and rein in Pyongyang. That's hardly a new headline now. Every administration going back to Bill Clinton has been asking that of Beijing. What's different this time around?
[Paula Hancocks, Cnn International Correspondent:] What we've been hearing from Beijing consistently over recent months, if not further, was they wanted dialogue. They wanted there to be negotiations between North Korea and the other parties. The six-party talk, the talks between the six nation that's had the most input into this crisis, that hasn't been going for many, many years. But China wants Washington to talk to Pyongyang. We've heard from the U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson when he was in the region that it's not the time to do that, it's not practical to expect that. What we're hearing from President Trump would suggest that's the last thing on his mind at this point. Although, of course, we're yet to see exactly what the North Korean policy of the Trump administration will be. That hasn't been laid out yet. But obviously, what President Xi would like to see if very unlikely to happen. So Donald Trump will be asking him to push North Korea further, to push sanctions further to try to put the squeeze on North Korea more at a time when Donald Trump isn't willing to do what President Xi wants, which is to negotiate. So it will be a tricky conversation as President Trump himself said.
[Vause:] At the same time, we're seeing the North Koreans continue to fire ballistic missiles and there's concern the North is gearing up for another nuclear test.
[Hancocks:] That's right. North Korean doesn't seem to be slowing down in any shape or form. The North Koran leader, Kim Jong-Un, has made it clear he wants to perfect his capabilities, when it comes to nuclear, when it comes to missiles. He has said he will keep testing and he's also said he's close to test launching an intercontinental missile that could potentially hit mainland United States. And he carried out this ballistic missile test on the eve of this meeting. As U.S. officials saying it looked like a spectacular failure, we're not hearing about it in North Korea media, so you would assume it's a failure. The just the fact that North Korea will carry out these missile tests despite what is, or maybe because of what's happening between the U.S. and China, puts China again in a tricky position.
[Vause:] Matt, back to you. The summit is being held in Donald Trump's golf resort in Florida. Why is this seen as a bit of an honor or a bit of a win for President XI, even though we know he may not be playing golf.
[Rivers:] Just look at the fact that Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, was given a relatively cold reception by the president at the White House. This is, by going down to what the president calls his southern White House, it could signal a friendlier atmosphere between both sides, that he hasn't brought other leaders there, other than Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from Japan. That's very important to the Chinese leader because there is some animosity that remains between Japan and China, and so it's very important for the Chinse leader to be seen at the very least on equal footing with the prime minister of Japan. So between those couple factors, certainly a win for President XI to go to the so-called southern White House.
[Vause:] Matt Rivers in Beijing, Paula Hancocks in Seoul, thanks to you both. Well, President Trump and President XI won't be talking climate change during the summit. It's one area where the United States and China have actually reversed roles. Will Ripley has the details.
[Will Ripley, Cnn Senior International Corrspondent:] Two dramatically different photo ops hours apart. Chinese President Xi Jinping planting trees in Beijing, talking about protecting nature. President Trump signing an executive order in Washington dismantling President Obama's climate change policy. The leaders of the world's two biggest polluters switching sides. China ready to take the lead on going green. "I'm shocked," says this Beijing resident. "But that's OK, our national leaders are paying much more attention than before." "I don't feel like President XI has done much," he says. "We're not seeing the results." [on camera]: It's true there are still smoggy days in China cities like Beijing but as the U.S. seems to be reversing course on climate change, China is changing its approach. Even hardline state newspaper "Global Times" is calling out Trump and urging Americans to stop his climate policies. [voice-over]: For years, Chinese policy misled the public on pollution and suppressed environmental activists.
[Unidentified Male:] Some of the factories are not in compliance
[Ripley:] Now they are working together, creating this app showing real-time pollution data, pressuring violators to clean up their act.
[Unidentified Male:] Now, finally, there's a real political will to try to control the pollution.
[Ripley:] Times have definitely changed. As the U.S. rolls back environmental regulations, China is investing hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy, like this wind turbine factory and a Chinese tech firm buying into Tesla. Many Chinese are fed up with toxic smog, a deadly by product of economic growth, believed to kill more than two million people in China each year. "Other countries have experienced pollution," says this man, "so we have examples how to deal with it." The world's biggest polluter hopes to put bad air in the past as the second biggest now faces an uncertain environmental future. Will Ripley, CNN, Beijing.
[Vause:] Coming up next, "State of America" with Kate Bolduan for those watching in Asia. And for everyone else, after the break, why more and more companies are yanking their commercials from Bill O'Reilly's show on the FOX News channel.