TOKYO (Kyodo) -- China has drawn up a scenario to bolster cooperation with Japan and South Korea over North Korea's denuclearization in a bid to drive a wedge in the three-way ties between the two Asian neighbors and the United States, Chinese sources familiar with the matter said Saturday.

Chinese policymakers share the view that there is a "strategic opportunity" for Beijing to approach Tokyo and Seoul as their trilateral partnership with Washington could be affected by U.S. President Donald Trump's disdain for multilateral frameworks, the sources said.

While reinstating his "America First" policy in his second term, which began in January, Trump has also said he intends to reengage with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with whom he held in-person meetings three times during his first presidency, underlining his preference for a bilateral approach.

As a step to improve China's relations with the two neighbors, Beijing has conveyed to Seoul that Chinese President Xi Jinping intends to attend this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit to take place in South Korea between late October and early November, they said.

China also backs the idea of holding a trilateral meeting of the three Asian countries' leaders at an early date, following a gathering of their foreign ministers in Tokyo last week.

The three Asian neighbors have shared interests in achieving the denuclearization of North Korea, which has recently been strengthening military cooperation with Russia following the signing of a key partnership treaty in June last year that contains a provision for their mutual defense obligations.

A source familiar with Beijing-Pyongyang relations said Chinese Ambassador to North Korea Wang Yajun temporarily returned to China in October last year in a sign of protest over deeper military ties between North Korea and Russia.

Pyongyang has provided troops, ballistic missiles and ammunition to aid Russia's invasion of Ukraine and is believed to be seeking assistance from Moscow to advance its own military capabilities in return.

As part of efforts to strengthen China's ties with Japan and South Korea, academic exchanges led by Tsinghua University in Beijing, Xi's alma mater, have been under way. They involve discussions among experts from the three countries on issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula.

The sources said China eventually aim to upgrade the exchange framework to involve government officials.