with generals and i think even that seems to be wearing off. >> what do you think would cause james mattis? there's no reporting he's on the way out. let me make that clear. if, in fact, there is this discord or tension or just space created between general mattis and the president, do you think general mattis would stay from a sense of duty? >> well, i think if it reached the point where he himself felt that he was just ineffective and had no voice, no influence, i don't know how long he would linger. other cabinet members, notably attorney general, doesn't seem to bother him, but i don't know about secretary mattis. i think he would have a tipping point and only he knows what that is that would maybe cause him to say that -- to feel that perhaps he would be less effective if he stayed on. >> general mattis is in beijing at this moment and, obviously, china policy toward the u.s. and u.s. policy toward china right in the middle of the news, not just with north korea, but also on the issue of trade. if you're a stop trader and investor this morning you care very deeply about that relations

china said the comments — by us defence secretary james mattis — were irresponsible and not worthy of in singapore. from there karishma vaswani has sent this report. the us is here to stay in asia. that is the message us defence secretary james mattis had for his asian counterparts in singapore today. but he also warned of china's increasing influence. and whenever the two sides are in the same room, they usually argue about the same thing. china's power in the region and the impact on its neighbours. china's militarisation of artificial features in the south china sea includes the deployment of anti—ship missiles, surface—to—air missiles, electronic jammers and, more recently, the landing of bomber aircraft at woody island. despite china's claims to the contrary, the placement of these weapons systems is tied directly to military use for the purposes of intimidation and coercion. china says it owns all of the south china sea, a lucrative and strategic shipping zone — even though six other countries lay claim to it. it has been building military installations in the area. critics say

defense secretary james mattis has been meeting with the south korean counterpart in seoul the two held talks on washington's decision to suspend joint military exercises which have long angered north korea that happened during the recent summit between donald trump and kim jong un macha says the suspension will increase the chances for peace as ollie. north. on thursday matter was in china's capital for talks on regional security territorial disputes in the south china sea and the presence of u.s. troops in south korea were the main issues but china made it clear it would not give up an inch of territory in the south china sea edge and right as well from beijing. well james mattis said he was here to in his words take the measure of china's strategic ambitions during the photo opportunity before their closed door meetings both sides issued brief statements and it was then the president xi jinping said that china would never concede give an inch of its territory he also said to sort of mollify his guest the china didn't want to create global chaos and would pursue a path of peaceful dev

defense secretary james mattis has been in china's capital for talks on regional security territorial disputes in the south china sea and the presence of u.s. troops in south korea one of the main issues discussed in beijing adrian brown has more from beijing. well james mattis said he was here to in his words take the measure of china's strategic ambitions joining the photo opportunity before their closed door meetings both sides issued brief statements and it was then the president xi jinping said that china would never concede give an inch of its territory he also said to sort of mollify his guest the china didn't want to create global chaos and would pursue a path of peaceful development that's often a phrase that chinese leaders use on occasions like this both sides apparently discuss the need to maintain military cooperation but the timing of this meeting is unfortunate because the united states is holding a big naval exercise of hawaii at the moment involving the militaries of twenty five other countries china was supposed to have taken part in this exercise but china's invitat

best friend secretary james mattis has been meeting his south korean counterpart in seoul the two held talks on washington's decision to suspend joint military exercises earlier maddest was in beijing discussing territorial disputes in the south china sea where he was told that china would not give up an inch of territory . but the u.k. intelligence committee has published two previously leaked reports shedding light on the mistreatment of detainees the seven year old consolidated guidance document as it's currently known highlights hundreds of cases witnessed by u.k. security personnel and which detainee rights were violated the report say those responsible for the abuse were british and american nationals the report suggests greater clarity is needed to make sure ministers to not authorize actions which could lead to torture paul brennan has more. these two reports by the intelligence committee of the house of parliament paint a highly critical picture of the behavior of british intelligence services both in the period from two thousand and wants twenty ten and even afterwards what t

defense secretary james mattis is being in china's capital for talks on regional security territorial disputes in the south china sea in the presence of u.s. troops in south korea with the main issues being discussed in beijing a.g.m. brown has more from beijing's heavy on the smiles and positive statements how much common ground are the two sides actually finding. well i think beyond the diplomatic niceties it's quite clear that there are still big you know strains in the relationship between china and the united states on many fronts right now not just defense of course but also trade which is the principal point of friction between these two countries now matters said that he'd come here to beijing by the way this was his first visit to china as defense secretary he said he wanted to come here to really you know assess the state of the relationship between the two militaries because in the past there has been cooperation between china and the united states in the military severe but this week for instance china was due to participate in war games with the united states off the coas

defense a great james mattis has been meeting with a south korean counterpart in seoul the two l. talks on washington's decision to suspend joint military exercises earlier matches was in beijing discussing territorial disputes in the south china sea where he was told that china would not give up an inch of territory. german chancellor angela merkel is addressing parliament on refugee policies we're looking at live pictures coming from there now which is threatening to collapse the coalition in recent weeks later on head over to brussels for a key summit with the leaders hoping to agree and wide approach to the issue which is threatening to split the tune. of more than two hundred refugees of reach land of being stuck at sea for six days the charity ship lifeline docked in multi but only after eight countries agreed to take a share of the migrants. now the family of a refugee killed himself in the remote island of nauru are calling for his body to be brought to australia activists also calling for his mother and brother to. to be allowed to settle there for the boers carom easy to

relief after it takes verifiable and irreversible steps to denuclearize ation defense secretary james mattis was speaking on the sidelines of a major defense conference in singapore he met his south korean and japanese counterparts to discuss the upcoming summit between the u.s. president and north korea's leader. we can anticipate village and a bumpy road to the negotiated solution no different than me for a while the little event of civilians that we would enable or give commands to go to the promises of the vision of wrinkles in this predicament wire. cutters deputy prime minister also address the security summit saying the gulf nation is stronger now than it was almost a year ago that's when saudi arabia egypt the united arab emirates and behave imposed a diplomatic and economic blockade accuse of fostering terrorism denies the allegations through the unwavering resilience of the top of the people and the sound leadership of his highness the emir we were able to weather the storm and emerge from it stronger than ever before in the years since the blockade was imposed oil production of na

defense secretary james mattis has been in china's capital for talks on the regional security territorial disputes in the south china sea and the presence of u.s. troops in south korea were the main issues discussed in beijing mathis's next stop is south korea craigslist and follow this report from jeju island where matters will meet with a south korean counterpart. this will be the third meeting between the defense secretaries this year and on the agenda the main topic of course will be the alliance between the united states and south korea and moving forward following the announcement that the alliance will be suspending these military exercises off the korean coast which have so angered north korea in the past freedom guardian the biggest of those military exercises involving some seventeen and a half thousand u.s. soldiers has been suspended and more recently the announcement that they will suspend two other exercises the careen korean marine exchange program drills of course this has been woken by the north koreans who saw these as provocative mr trump himself admitted they were prov

defense secretary james mattis saying in singapore just a few moments ago that any discussion around u.s. troop numbers in south korea will not be on the agenda in singapore when the summit takes place so it seems like this will be largely a symbolic meeting between the two leaders if indeed it does happen of course still a very important step towards having a peaceful korean peninsula or perhaps more concrete than simply symbolic is what's going on between north and south korea tell us about the reestablishment of their sort of communication process. yes well there have been concrete steps taken over the past day or so on friday there were high level talks between representatives from north and south korea they met in the demilitarized zone separating the two countries and this was really a practical way of starting to implement some of the things that have been discussed between president moon and going in those two into korean summit so they have agreed to set up a joint liaison office that will be in the case song industrial complex with you which is just north of the border it's

thank you. >>> the defense secretary james mattis touching down in china overnight. mattis making the first visit to china by the secretary of defense since 2014. let's go live to beijing and bring in will ripley. there is a lot to discuss here. even trade disputes aside. so much between these two powers. >> reporter: it is really complicated, christine. what the trump administration is doing is they are tying the trade issue with national security. national security is the justification of the administration for the announcement expected later this week to block chinese investment in american technology because the trump administration has accused china of stealing american technology. when u.s. companies come here to be part of the market, they are pressured by the government to share their trade secrets with chinese counterparts who are accused of taking that information and building their own cheaper knockoff version. he will have to talk about that. keep in mind, the united states needs china's help on the north korean denuclearization. they are vowing to strike

. >> james mattis says the pentagon is planning to build camps to house immigrant children. details are still worked out. and mattis providing housing to disaster victims. >> we have done this, some of you remember, with the vietnamese boat people. refugees were put in u.s. military bases for months as it was worked out and how they would be dealt with. >> senate minority leader chuck schumer asking for a czar to host the families. >>> and the president and first lady are helping to welcome the king and queen of jordan before heading to south carolina to campaign for henry mcmaster. white house is jumping in to save mcmaster with vice president pence appearing over the weekend. >>> white house press secretary booted from the restaurant because she works for the president. she was asked to leave because she worked for potus. her actions say more about her. i always do my best to treat people, including those i disagree with respectfully. >> the owner of the restaurant said she would do the same thing again. she explained to sanders the restaurant has standards she has to upho

it has been theorized it played a part in the selection of general james mattis to be defense secretary. exclusive reporting out today from nbc news finds that these days the man known as secretary mattis is often out of the loop when it comes to key policy decisions. he was blindsided by trump's decision to pause the military exercises with sourk after the meeting with. mattis was surprised at trump's announcement to form a new branch of the u.s. military, the space force. current and former officials tell nbc news the president has cooled on mattis in part because he has come to believe his defense secretary looks down on him and low walks his policy directives. here with us to talk about it tonight, carol lee our national political reporter whose by line appears on this nbc news report and retired u.s. army colonel jack jacobs from combat in vietnam and one of 72 living recipients of the medal of honor and for good reason our msnbc military analyst. welcome. how did we get here with the president and his defense secretary? >> there are a number of ways in which we get to this point.

defense secretary james mattis on his way to asia to visit in china and south korea.e korean question what we are learning is a senior defense official telling reporters there is a plan at least on the u.s. side. they will deliver to north korea at some point in the coming days a u.s. proposal for a timeline and for tax. what the u.s. wants to do to achieve de-nuclearization. the president saying that that is happening but there is no evidence it is happening. it is this timeline that the u.s. is preparing to give to north korea that will tell the world according to the defense officials whether north korea really is acting in good faith and whether it really does after singapore plan to denuclearize. regardless of the president's optimism a lot of hard work being done right now behind the scenes to get it all down on paper and present north korea with the details and get them to sign off on it. >> thank you as always. ahead for us a woman says she was humiliated in front of her 7-year-old son when a walgreens pharmacist refused to fill her prescription to end her pre

james mattis, the defense secretary, said china was using its military might to coerce other countrieso accept its ownership of the disputed waters. he was speaking at a security summit in singapore. president trump is due to meet with north korea's kimjong—un there in 10 days time. from singapore, karishma vas—wami has just sent this report. the us is here to stay in asia, that's the message us defense secretary james mattis had for his asian counterparts in singapore today. but he also warned of china's increasing influence. china's militarisation of artificial features in the south china sea includes the deployment of anti—ship missiles, surface to air missiles, electronicjammers and the landing of bomber aircraft at woody island. despite their claims to the contrary, the placement of these weapons systems is tied directly to military use for the purposes of intimidation and coercion. china says it owns all of the south china sea, a lucrative and strategic shipping zone, even though six other countries lay claim to it. it's been building military installations in the area, and criti

deploy troops and weapons "on its own territory" and called the comments by us defence secretary james mattisresponsible". police in nicaragua have ended the siege of a church where opposition supporters had sought refuge after being attacked by riot police and pro—government militias. doctors have been allowed to treat the injured inside the church, in the city of masaya. more than 100 people have been killed in nicaragua since the unrest began six weeks ago. the cuban president, miguel diaz—canel, has announced that a team led by his predecessor, raul castro, will reform the constitution and formalise economic reforms of the past decade. among the proposals are the introduction of presidential term limits and the legalisation of same—sex marriage. the government has stressed, however, that the nature of socialism in cuba will be maintained. spain's new socialist prime minister, pedro sanchez, has been sworn in at a ceremony in madrid. catalonia's new regional government also took office during the day and immediately called for talks with mr sanchez. don't forget, you can keep up to date al

james mattis is ineffective inside, and over time he's going to become more ineffective. and it's just a matter of time, i think, before he leaves. it won't be by his own volition like john kelly, for example. it will be because he's shipped out. >> carol, as someone on this network said, he is viewed by so many, especially the moderates, as the human guardrail for this administration. >> yeah, he is. and that's, you know, one of the things i think that people -- it started to get noticed in washington that mattis is not aligned with the president on certain issues, and there's been questions, you know, privately asked of what his influence is and what the value is and just exactly what you two were talking about a minute ago. you know, what's the role? at what point does it become where is mattis ineffective and the whole idea of him being the adult in the room is torn to shreds. i think the one area in which mattis is being effective or where you see him drilling down on his job is running the pentagon. it's a massive organization. he has been effective in convincing th

relief after it takes verifiable and irreversible steps to denuclearize ation defense secretary james mattis was speaking on the sidelines of a defense conference in singapore he made his south korean and japanese counterparts to discuss the upcoming summit between u.s. president donald trump and north korean leader kim jong un. is a very. good. thank you very much for the wealth of the. good. of all. of. the thirty five israeli military says its jets have targeted fifteen sites belonging to hamas in the gaza strip it says two weapons manufacturing and storage sites were hit israel said it intercepted three rockets fired from gaza sirens were activated in southern israeli areas bordering the gaza strip a force that joins us from gaza city now what happened overnight. well as you say there were initial reports of these four projectiles being fired out of gaza in territories that they were mortars and that's as you say one according to israeli military fell inside gaza territory the other three intercepted by the iron dome system of the anti missile anti projectile system and then in response

defense secretary james mattis reportedly on the outside looking in. pushed from president trump's inner circle. a stunning report about how president trump has kept mattis out of the loop on critical decisions, a man he used to flatteringly refer to as mad dog. >>> later, back to the border as protesters planning to gather outside a tent city. john oliver points out the tactic probably won't work in this case. >> wait. why are we talking about this? we should be talking about something else. that doesn't work when you deflect from is children in cages. if a realtor selling a house why are we talking about the children in cages? the kitchen has marble countertops. the only acceptable response is because they're chin aldren and they're in cages. what about the world's lowest limbo stick? how low can you go? nice one, carl. hey i've got an idea. just say, badda book. badda boom. badda book. badda boom. nice. always the lowest price, guaranteed. book now at choicehotels.com >>> we have got exclusive new details of defense secretary james mattis and the pos

michael singleton, carol lisa for nbc news and author of that reporting on jame mattis and chris lu andis a senior fellow. good for you. >> thank you. >> both are very -- i'm envious of both jobs. let me go to carol. i've sensed a silence from mattis, mad dog mattis. he has not been much of a mad dog recently. his positions make more sense than trumps. >> well that. >> don't really agree on anything. even going back to the campaign they disagreed on certain issues like torture, but it was sort of papered over. and what you see in the last six to eight months is that with trump's kind of feeling emboldened himself to make his own decision and listen to his own instincts on top of hiring someone like john bolton who mattis opposed and moving pompeo into the state department, he is listening to those folks. and the other piece here, chris, mattis doesn't have that was in alliance and rex tillerson is out. so he doesn't have a the secretary of state that he is aligned with either in the same way. >> i get the feeling when he hired john bolton, he forgot the rest of the guys. he brought in m

president talking to kim jong-un without thoroughly talking it out with his secretary of defense james mattisith us. what about him? let's do it. ♪ come on. this summer, add a new member to the family. at the mercedes-benz summer event. lease the glc300 for $429 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. heartburn and gas? ♪ now fight both fast new tums chewy bites with gas relief all in one relief of heartburn and gas ♪ ♪ tum tum tum tums new tums chewy bites with gas relief >>> in our politics lead, early in the trump administration many republicans found solis and comfort that the president surrounded himself with three well respected generals but since then mcmaster has been shown the door and former marine john kelly is waning and now there are questions about how much president trump is listening to or even looping in his secretary of defense, retired general james mattis. barbara starr reports on how this division might impact the nation's safety and security. >> reporter: it is becoming increasingly clear that president trump and defense secretary

defense secretary james mattis has been meeting his south korean counterpart in seoul to held talks on washington's decision to suspend joint military exercises earlier maddest was in beijing discussing territorial disputes in the south china sea where he was told that china would not give up and of territory. britain's prince william is visiting holy sites in occupied east jerusalem on the final day of his middle east tour he started the day paying respects at his great grandmother princess alice is curried it was the first official visit by a member of the royal family since the british occupation of palestine ended in one nine hundred forty eight. you can tell a joint committee has officially published two previously lake reports shedding light on the mistreatment of detainees the seven year old consolidated guidance document as it is currently known highlights hundreds of cases witnesses witnessed rather by u.k. employees in which detainee rights had been violated the report suggests that greater clarity is needed to make sure ministers do not authorize actions which could lead to

best friends are terry james mattis has been meeting his south korean counterpart.art and sold the two all talks on washington's decision to suspend joint military exercises earlier madis was in beijing discussing territorial disputes in the south china sea where he was told that china would not give up an inch of territory. britain's prince william is visiting the holy sites in occupied east jerusalem on the final day of his middle east tour he started the day paying respects at his great grandmother princess alice's grave rescue jews during the holocaust prince william is also visiting one of the most important holy sites for muslims that walks a mosque compound it is the first official visit by a member of the royal family since the british occupation of palestine ended in one thousand nine hundred eighty eight harry fossett has more from occupied east jerusalem. so the church of the holy sepulcher is the last official engagement of prince william's visit the third of the holy sites that he's visited here in occupied east jerusalem kensington palace made it very

actions in the south china sea speaking at an international security conference secure defense james mattis accused beijing of using pressure tactics on its neighbors despite trying to claim to the contrary the placement of these weapon systems is tied directly to military use for the purposes of intimidation and we're. trying to militarization of the spread is also in direct contradiction to president twenty fifteen public pressure interest in the white house rose garden that they would not go to resolutions on weeks of violence that gaza's border with israel have failed at the u.n. security council since march israeli soldiers of shot dead at least one hundred twenty one palestinians have been protesting for the rights to return us blocked kuwait backed resolution calling for the protection of palestinians then failed to get support for its resolution condemning hamas for the unrest a french newspaper says saadi arabia is threatening military action against council if russian weapons are bought the longer ports the saudi king told the french president he will retaliate if qatar acquire a

defense secretary james mattis is due to meet president xi jinping after previously saying that china's rapidly expanding military power is a bigger national security threat than terrorism his visit coincides with a u.s. aircraft carrier draw. being anchor in the philippines the ronald reagan is the third carrier the troops to patrol the south china sea this year let's go live to the beijing china corresponded adrian brown is with us so given james mattis is a strong language of china in the past adrian what sort of reception is he going to get that. well he's actually had quite a polite reception comments released just a short time ago adrian from from both sides say that matters has had very good talks here and has received a high degree of respect from his military host president xi jinping has also been talking he said that no relationship in the world right now matters more than that between china and the united states so the language is actually quite measured and of course it comes at a time of this increasing trade friction between china and the united states now you know the re

in the south china seas speaking at an international security conference secretary of defense james mattis accused beijing of using pressure tactics on its neighbors. despite trying to claim to the contrary the placement of these weapons systems is tied directly to military use for the purposes of intimidation and coercion trying to militarization of the spratleys is also in direct contradiction to president twenty fifteen public assurances in the white house rose garden that they would not do this to resolutions on the escalation of violence at the gaza israel border have failed at the un security council since march israeli soldiers have shot dead at least one hundred twenty one palestinians have been protesting for the right to return to their homeland the u.s. block to kuwait backed resolution calling for the protections of palestinians and then fail to get support for its resolution condemning hamas for the unrest diplomatic efforts to james bays reports from the un. us ambassador nikki haley came here determined to waltz a resolution drafted by kuwait that called for measures to prot

even james mattis weighed in. >> will the trade impact have an effect on the security relationship? right now i don't see that. i still think it is premature to call it a trade war. as it starts maturing, there is always give and take on these things. along the path, it will be rocky and bumpy. so far, i do not anticipate any effect in the security arena. >> in congress, senator bob corker tells us the president called him and to back off the effort. the president telling corker this would hurt negotiations. corker says he has a duty to push ahead. maybe so, mitch mcconnell telling sirius xm that the president does not need to rein in legislation. >>> the g7 summit tomorrow. larry kudlow says president trump is not backing down from the aggressive trade stance. setting a showdown with u.s. allies. >> we will do what is necessary to protect the united states, its businesses and its work force. he has always said and agree tariffs are a tool in that effort. people should recognize how serious he is. >> he is serious. that stance has isolated the united states at the g7. it has been ca

"on its own territory" and called the comments by us defence secretary james mattis "irresponsible." thousands of gazans have turned out for the funeral of a palestinian nurse who was killed by israeli fire during protests. 21—year—old razan al—najar was shot dead as she hurried to the side of a casualty at the border fence. the israeli military says it will investigate her killing. the spanish prime minister, mariano rajoy, was forced out of office earlier week. one pressing issue facing his successor is the future of the northeastern region of catalonia, where an unsanctioned referendum on independence was held last year. niall o'gallagher reports for our world. barcelona, capital of catalonia, one of the most prosperous parts of spain. it has a distinct culture and its own language. but under the dictatorship, general franco said speaking catalan was banned and the region's autonomy, lost. when democracy was restored, catalonia was able to govern itself within spain, and most people here accepted that. but recently, support for independence has risen and the region's people are no

this is what james mattis is talking about. he landed in south korea overnight and meeting with his counterpart there. he is talking about denuclearization and the joint military exercises to help produce a peaceful environment here. you have north korea still working on the nuclear reactor. we are working to learn when north korea will return the remains to united states. no word on when it will happen. >> another reminder of the vague commitment to work toward denuclearization. will, thank you. >>> 18 minutes past the hour. beer shortage. the united kingdom rationing beer during the world cup. why and how long it will last next. ♪ it's time for the 'lowest prices of the season' on the only bed that adjusts on both sides to your ideal comfort your sleep number setting. and snoring? does your bed do that? don't miss final closeout savings on the queen c2 mattress. now only $599, save $300. it's the lowest price ever, only for a limited time. visit sleepnumber.com for a store near you. does your business internet provider promis

. >>> defense secretary james mattis touching down in china overnight.'s bring in will ripley live in beijing. if he is likely to listen, what is mattis going hear? >> reporter: president xi saying he will punch back against the united states. there's $50 billion in tariffs due to kick in next month. announcement citing national security is the reason why trump administration wants to block chinese investment. they accuse the chinese of stealing american technology. the secretary has to talk about the issues and relating them to national security and he needs to convince president xi to keep the pressure up on north korea. the maximum pressure campaign would not work without chinese cooperation. they will have to be addressing that along with the chinese expansion in the south china sea. the permanent aircraft carriers and militarization of the south china sea and stepping up patrols and sailing war ships near the disputedlands. a lot on the agenda in beijing as the secretary kicks off the meeting. >> will ripley, thank you. >>> and then this. good samar

if they can get these pumps back moving and also if they find that fourth jim and ten secretary james mattis has been meeting has south korean counterpart and seoul but still talks on washington's decision to suspend joint military exercises which of longing are korea that happened during the recent summit between donald trump and can john the maddest says the suspension will increase chances for peace. the only. real. reason. earlier on thursday madness was in china's capital for talks on regional security territorial disputes in the south china sea and the presence of u.s. troops in south korea were the main issues but china made it clear it would not give up territory in the south china sea britain's prince william is visiting holy sites in occupied on the final day of his middle east tour he started the day paying respects at his great grandmother princess alice his grave she helped rescue jews during the holocaust prince william is also visiting one of the most important holy sites for muslims the ox a mosque compound the first official visit by a member of the royal family since the br

defense secretary emphasize those same objectives for the negotiations with north korea james mattis was speaking at a conference of asia pacific defense chiefs and analysts in singapore here's what he said. our objective remains the complete verifiable and irreversible nuclear or indeed nuclearization of the korean peninsula and the international community at an online meant here as evidence by multiple unanimous united nations security council resolutions two votes on gaza have failed the un security council the us blocked the first resolution put forward by kuwait which condemned israel's use of force against palestinians and the u.s. failed to get backing for its own resolution blaming hamas for the recent flare up of violence along the gaza israel border the french newspaper le monde is reporting that saudi arabia has threatened military action against quetta if it buys russian weapons it says the saudi king told the french president that he will retaliate if qatar acquires the s four hundred and eighty aircraft defense system spain's conservative government has been toppled by

defense secretary james mattis saying that that is not going to happen they're not going to end these joint military exercises because they are necessary to prepare the u.s. troops some thirty thousand u.s. military personnel based in south korea and the south korean soldiers for the rear likelihood that there could be an invasion or an attack by north korea north korea hasn't seen it that way of course they see it the military exercises as a precursor to rehearsal to attacking north korea so it seems like they will be some very tough questions for mike pompei o the u.s. secretary of state who is on his way to solve due to arrive in the next few hours he will meet with president on thursday morning and also with the foreign ministers from south korea and japan and he went hey live for us and seoul wayne thank you very much now i know tangan joins us now he's a china political analyst an advisor to the chinese government on economic and development issues he joins us live from beijing einar always good to talk to you so this seemingly surprising announcement from donald trump that the

defense secretary james mattis has assured south korea of washington's ironclad commitment to its security on a trip to seoul he pledged to keep u.s. troop levels in south korea on altered his comments come days after the u.s. suspended several war games with south korea in light of denuclearization talks with the north. you're watching news from berlin and we'll have more coming up at the top of the hour my colleague sumi so misconduct will join you then for the very latest so tell you what's going on in the world but in the meantime what you can always hope for to check our web site that's it if you don't use our com you can also follow us on social media we are on facebook twitter and instagram i'm sara kelly in berlin thank you so much for watching have a great. many countries in germany to learn german. language from the. why not learn with him online on your mobile and free from the w z learning course you can speak. you.

james mattis has previously said removing the troops would not be part of the negotiations with north korea but president trump seemed to open the door to possibilities last month when he ordered the pentagon to come up with options for reducing u.s. forces in the country. based on what james mattis said today though, those options would only be considered down the road the threat from north korea was reduced. >> on the korean peninsula, we hold a line with our allies. supporting our diplomats believe the effort. our objective remains the complete verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the korean peninsula. >> china is expected to play key role in negotiations with north korea. today beijing foreign minister responded to the president committing to the summit saying another important step has been taken along the right path of politically resolving the korean peninsula issue. we are pleased to see that. ahead of the summit, there is growing tension between the u.s. and china. not only the two countries in the midst of tough trade negotiations, the u.s. is also threatening to