China urges Trump not to worsen North Korean crisis with his "words and actions"

China has issued a stark warning to Donald Trump not to engage in "words and actions" that could worsen the already raised tensions in the Korean peninsular.

The past seven days have seen a sharp increase in the rhetoric between Donald Trump and Pyongyang after fresh sanctions were imposed following a series of high-profile missile tests.

According to Chinese state media, Mr Xi told Mr Trump in a phone call that "all relevant parties" should stop "words and deeds" that would exacerbate the situation.

It comes after Trump threatened North Korea with "fire and fury" as well as tweeting that the US was "locked and loaded".

North Korea has threatened to attack the US territory of Guam and announced on Saturday that 3.5m people had signed up to join the army over the past week.

A White House statement said the US and China agreed North Korea must stop "provocative and escalatory behaviour".

As North Korea's only real ally, China has more influence than any other nation over the hermit nation.

Donald Trump and President Xi had a warmer than expected relationship at first after Trump had spent much of his election campaign attacking China on trade and the economy.

But after a visit to Florida from President Xi, the pair had agreed a new partnership between the two nations.

However, continued missile tests from North Korea including two Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles angered the west and Trump's initially warm embrace of China turned cold.

On Thursday 10 August, the Chinese state-run Global Times said: "If North Korea launches missiles that threaten US soil first and the US retaliates, China will stay neutral. If the US and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so."