China demands US stops North Korea sanctions, calling the move a mistake

CHINA has called on the US not to impose tough new sanctions on North Korea, saying it was a mistake that would hurt bilateral co-operation.

CHINA’S foreign ministry is demanding the United States stop enacting unilateral sanctions against Chinese entities and individuals, after Washington said it was imposing its largest package of sanctions to pressure North Korea.

China has lodged “stern representations” with the US over the sanctions, whose targets include a Taiwan passport holder, as well as shipping and energy firms in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.

China's President Xi Jinping (L) and US President Donald Trump. Picture: AFP

China “demands the US side immediately stops such relevant mistaken actions to avoid harming bilateral co-operation in the relevant area”, the ministry said in a short statement on Saturday.

It comes after US President Donald Trump said the US relationship with China was the “best ever”.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a better relationship with China than we do right now,” Mr Trump said during a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

“My personal relationship with President Xi is quite extraordinary. He is somebody that I like. I think he likes me.”

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Picture: AP

Yesterday, Mr Trump rolled out fresh sanctions against North Korea-linked shipping assets, hailing the package as the “heaviest sanctions ever” levied on the Pyongyang regime.

In light of past US embargoes, that is likely an overstatement, but Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin confirmed the sanctions covered “virtually all the ships” North Korea is “using at this moment in time.”

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Picture: AFP

Speaking to reporters in Pyeongchang Saturday on a visit to the Winter Olympics, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said: “Hopefully we’ll see a change on the part of the North Koreans to start to denuclearise the peninsula, that’s what our focus is.”

She added: “I can tell you the president won’t make the mistakes the previous administration has and be soft or weak.”