By Aldgra Fredly

President Donald Trump said on March 15 that he may delay a planned meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

“It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the Strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” the president said in an interview with the Financial Times.

Trump said he would like to know China’s position on the matter before his planned visit to Beijing at the end of the month to meet Xi.

“I think China should help too because China gets 90 percent of its oil from the Straits,” he said of China’s reliance on the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump did not indicate how long the meeting could be delayed.

The escalating conflict in the Middle East has caused many tankers to stop transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a vital maritime chokepoint for global oil and gas shipments.

Trump told reporters on March 15 that he has demanded about seven countries who rely heavily on the Strait of Hormuz to help secure the shipping route.

“I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it is their own territory,” he said, without naming the countries.