U.S. President Barack Obama will hold one-on-one talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of next week's Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, the White House announced Thursday.



The meeting, set for March 31, will "present an opportunity to advance U.S.-China cooperation on a range of issues of mutual interest, while also enabling President Obama and President Xi to address areas of disagreement constructively," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said without elaborating.



North Korea is expected to be a key topic for their meeting as Pyongyang has been ratcheting up tensions with threats of attacks, claims of breakthroughs in its nuclear and missile programs and a series of missile firings into the sea.



South Korea says the North could conduct yet another nuclear test, its fifth, at any time.

China is considered the only country with any meaningful influence over Pyongyang as the main provider of food and energy aid as well as diplomatic protection for the impoverished, provocative regime.



But Beijing has often showed reluctance to use that influence as it fears that pushing Pyongyang too hard could lead to its collapse, an influx of refugees into the country, instability on its border and ultimately, the emergence of a pro-U.S. nation on its doorsteps.



After the North's fourth nuclear test in January, Beijing initially balked at imposing harsh sanctions on Pyongyang, but later signed on to the toughest-ever package of U.N. Security Council sanctions after the North's test of long-range missile technology in February. (Yonhap)



