China says to Donald Trump: ‘Don’t blame us for North Korea, trade issues’
AN ANGRY Beijing has hit out at Donald Trump’s tweets over trade and North Korea. China isn’t taking the President’s words lying down.
AN ANGRY Beijing has hit out at Donald Trump’s tweets over trade and North Korea and insisted solving the crisis came down to two countries alone.
“No matter how capable China is, China’s efforts will not yield practical results because it depends on the two principal parties,” ambassador Liu Jieyi said at the United Nations.
“They (the United States and North Korea) hold the primary responsibility to keep things moving, to start moving in the right direction, not China.”
It comes days after the US President said he was disappointed with China who are “doing nothing” over the North Korea issue.
The President on Sunday tweeted that foolish US leaders have allowed Beijing to make hundreds of billions in trade and said it was up to China to do more when it came to North Korea.
Mr Trump also warned he would no longer allow China to “do nothing” after the rogue state launched its second intercontinental ballistic missile test last week.
I am very disappointed in China. Our foolish past leaders have allowed them to make hundreds of billions of dollars a year in trade, yet...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017
...they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk. We will no longer allow this to continue. China could easily solve this problem!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2017
The comments raised eyebrows in Beijing with Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Qian Keming saying trade and the North Korea crisis should not be linked, USA Today reported.
“We think the North Korea nuclear issue and China-US trade ... are in two completely different domains,” he told a news conference in Beijing.
“They aren’t related. They should not be discussed together.”
Meanwhile, China’s state-run news agency Xinhua also published an editorial yesterday where it blamed the North Korea nuclear issue on “the decades-long animosity” between Pyongyang and Washington.
It also dismissed Mr Trump’s arguments on trade.
“China wants balanced trade with the United States, and it also hopes for lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. However, to realise these goals, Beijing needs a more cooperative partner in the White House, not one who piles blame on China for the United States’ failures,” it said.
‘DANGEROUS TIMES’
This morning, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd warned the world was in very dangerous times as the US looks to sanction Chinese firms.
“If that happens and it seems probable that it will then we look at, I think, a further escalation in the US-China relationship in a way we haven’t seen in a long, long time,” he told Sky News.
“That’s why we are in very difficult and dangerous times.”
Mr Rudd, President of the Asia Society Policy Institute, also said caution was needed now more now than ever.
He also called on allied leaders to step in and warn the Trump administration.
“Allied prime ministers, including the Australian prime minister, should be picking up the telephone to Washington and urging caution,” he said.
“The state of drift at the moment on North Korea in the direction of a crisis and even conflict ... should give us all real pause for concern.”
.@MrKRudd says we are in very dangerous times, as the US looks to sanction Chinese firms to deal with the threat of Nth Korea. LIVE ON SKY pic.twitter.com/ZJ14Q4Uq7R
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) July 31, 2017
‘ALL OPTIONS ON THE TABLE’
The Trump administration has declared that all options, including a targeted military strike, are on the table to block North Korea from carrying out threats against the United States and its allies in the region.
But US officials have said a pre-emptive attack isn’t likely and the administration has been pursuing a strategy of pressuring Pyongyang through new unilateral sanctions and appealing to China to use its influence.
But in comments clearly directed at the US and North Korea, Mr Liu said instead of complying with Security Council calls to de-escalate tensions and relaunch six-party negotiations, tensions have heightened as a result of new missile tests.
He said tensions had also been raised with statements that “all options are on the table,” and deployment of the US THAAD antimissile system.
Meanwhile, the US warned the time for talk on North Korea is “over”.
Nikki Haley, the US envoy to the United Nations, said there was “no point” in holding a fruitless emergency Security Council session, warning that another weak council resolution would be “worse than nothing” in light of the North’s repeated violations.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un boasted of his country’s ability to strike any target in the US after an intercontinental ballistic missile test July 28, 2017 which weapons experts said could even bring New York into range — a major challenge to Mr Trump.
— with AFP/AAP
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