N Korean gift? May just be a vase, says Trump
Clock ticking on Kim Jong Un’s warning of ‘Christmas present’
CHENGDU, CHINA: China hosted the leaders of squabbling neighbours South Korea and Japan for their first official meeting in over a year on Tuesday, flexing its diplomatic muscle with America’s two key Asian allies and seeking unity on how to deal with a belligerent North Korea.
The gathering in the southwestern city of Chengdu was held with the clock ticking on a threatened “Christmas gift” from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that could reignite global tensions over its nuclear programme.
Kim has promised the unidentified “gift” - which analysts and US officials believe could be a provocative missile test -- if Washington does not make concessions in their nuclear talks by the end of the year.
US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that “we’ll find out what the surprise is and we’ll deal with it very successfully,” joking that “maybe it’s a present where he sends me a beautiful vase as opposed to a missile test.”
The Tuesday gathering in China featured the first bilateral meeting between South Korea’s Moon Jae In and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 15 months.
Ties between the two Asian leaders have hit rock bottom lately over trade issues and other disputes related to decades of bitter wrangling over Japan’s 19101945 occupation of the Korean peninsula. The United States has urged the pair to bury the hatchet -- worried their poor relations were complicating diplomacy in Asia - although it has held off on direct mediation.
China is appearing to fill that void with the Chengdu event.
“As the region’s major power, China hopes to show its diplomatic presence to the world by bringing the Japanese and South Korean leaders to the same table,” Haruko Satoh, professor and expert on Chinese politics at Osaka University, told AFP.