US, China to work together on North Korea nuclear threats saying ‘things have reached a dangerous level’
THE US and China have pledged to work together in addressing the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear program.
THE US and China have pledged to work together in addressing the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear program, as US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned regional tensions had reached a “dangerous level.”
The language from Mr Tillerson and his Chinese counterpart after talks in Beijing was notably conciliatory after a run-up in which US President Donald Trump accused China of doing nothing to control its rogue neighbour while Beijing blamed Washington for fuelling hostilities.
North Korea is behaving very badly. They have been "playing" the United States for years. China has done little to help!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2017
“I think we share a common view and a sense that tensions in the peninsula are quite high right now and that things have reached a rather dangerous level,” Mr Tillerson said after talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
“We will work together to see if we cannot bring the government in Pyongyang to a place where they want to make a different course, make a course correction, and move away from the development of nuclear weapons.”
Mr Tillerson did not explicitly back Beijing’s calls for negotiations with North Korea and neither side indicated any concrete next steps.
Mr Tillerson arrived in Beijing earlier on Saturday after visits to US allies Japan and South Korea where he said the US would no longer observe the “failed” approach of patient diplomacy, warning that American military action against the North was an option “on the table.”
In a Friday Twitter blast, Mr Trump accused Beijing of failing to use its leverage as North Korea’s key diplomatic and trade partner.
“North Korea is behaving very badly. They have been ‘playing’ the United States for years. China has done little to help!” Mr Trump said.
The tougher US talk followed two North Korean nuclear tests last year and recent missile launches that Pyongyang described as practice for an attack on US bases in Japan.
Beijing is reluctant to squeeze the unpredictable North too hard lest it trigger a confrontation or messy regime collapse.
China, however, has accused Washington of escalating tensions by holding military exercises with its ally Seoul and deploying an antimissile system in South Korea.
Beijing wants to resume multilateral diplomatic negotiations with North Korea on dismantling its nukes — which UN resolutions bar it from having. Various rounds of such talks in years past failed to deter Pyongyang.
“We can either let the situation aggravate and lead to conflict or go back to the right track of negotiations,” Mr Wang said.
“We both hope to find ways to restart talks and do not give up hope for peace.”
Wang Dong, a North Korea expert at Peking University, said it was wrong to think Beijing can control the unpredictable and headstrong Pyongyang.
“It is unreasonable for the United States to accuse China of doing nothing on the DPRK (North Korea),” Mr Wang said. “This is an extremely complex and sensitive issue. There is no one magic formula.”
The Obama administration ruled out diplomatic engagement until Pyongyang fully committed to denuclearisation.
But North Korea insists it needs nuclear weapons for defence. It conducted its first underground atomic test in 2006, triggering global condemnation. Four more followed.
There was no immediate reaction from North Korea but the country’s top newspaper Rodong Sinmun carried a commentary on Saturday threatening to launch a devastating nuclear attack if the US takes military action.
“Should the US government continue putting pressure on us, efforts to seek a new exit (in the nuclear impasse) would be lost forever,” it said.
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