EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (AP) — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says he wants to focus on larger, more strategic security issues when he meets with Chinese officials this week.

U.S. officials say a key topic of the talks will be the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and the role China can play, considering its longstanding friendship with North Korea.

In speaking to reporters traveling with him to Asia on Sunday, Mattis avoided the sharp criticism of China that he has voiced recently.

A few weeks ago Mattis slammed Beijing at an international conference for its militarization of islands in the South China Sea.

His more diplomatic tack reflects the Trump administration's recognition of China's crucial influence on Korea as negotiations move ahead to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.