Biden to urge Xi to restrain N Korea's 'worst tendencies': White House

President Joe Biden will urge Chinese leader Xi Jinping to restrain North Korea's "worst tendencies" and tell him that Pyongyang's arms build-up will prompt an "enhanced" US military presence in Asia, a senior official said Saturday.

In a Monday meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit, Biden will tell Xi that China has "an interest in playing a constructive role in restraining North Korea's worst tendencies," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters.

Biden will also tell Xi that if North Korea's missile and nuclear build-up "keeps going down this road, it will simply mean further enhanced American military and security presence in the region."

Sullivan, speaking aboard Air Force One en route to Cambodia for a regional ASEAN summit this weekend, said Biden would not make demands on China but rather give Xi "his perspective."

This is that "North Korea represents a threat not just to the United States, not just to (South Korea) and Japan but to peace and stability across the entire region."

Whether China wants to increase pressure on North Korea is "of course up to them," Sullivan said.

However, with North Korea expected to soon test a nuclear weapon and rapidly ramping up its missile capacities, "the operational situation is more acute in the current moment," Sullivan said.