Trump says Asia held hostage by N Korea’s ‘twisted fantasies’

Prez promises to pursue ’mutually beneficial commerce’ through bilateral deals, condemns multilateral agreements

DANANG, VIETNAM : US President Donald Trump on Friday said the Asia-Pacific region was being held hostage by the “twisted fantasies” of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, as he called on countries to stand united against Pyongyang.

“The future of this region and its beautiful people must not be held hostage to a dictator’s twisted fantasies of violent conquest and nuclear blackmail,” he said during a speech in Vietnam to the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. The region, he added, must “stand united in declaring that every single step the North Korean regime takes toward more weapons is a step it takes into greater and greater danger”.

The US administration thinks China’s economic leverage over North Korea is the key to strongarming Pyongyang into halting its nuclear weapons and missile programmes.

On Thursday, Trump was in Beijing meeting President Xi Jinping, where he called on China to “act fast” over North Korea.

Washington has also worked in recent months to convince allies across Asia to oppose Pyongyang, an issue that will remain prominent during his two-day trip to Vietnam, which is currently hosting a major regional summit.

The leaders of Japan, Russia, China and South Korea are also attending the APEC summit.

WON’T LET USA BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF

Trump pitched a go-it-alone, “America First” trade policy to a nations that once pinned their economic hopes on a regional pact led by the United States, vowing to protect US interests against foreign exploitation.

“We are not going to let the United States be taken advantage of anymore,” Trump told a gathering of leaders at the APEC forum. “I am always going to put America first, the same way that I expect all of you in this room to put your countries first.”

Promising to pursue “mutually beneficial commerce” through bilateral trade agreements, he roundly condemned multilateral accords pursued by his predecessors, reprising a message he took to China this week that blamed weak leadership for trade imbalances that he said stripped jobs, factories and entire industries from the US.

“What we will no longer do is enter into large agreements that tie our hands, surrender our sovereignty and make meaningful enforcement practically impossible,” Trump said.

It was a strikingly hostile message to an audience that included leaders who had tied their fortunes to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.