Beijing tells Trump not to link trade to Pyongyang

NICOLAS MADURO, Venezuelan president BEIJING: China said yesterday the United States should not link trade to discussions about North Korea’s nuclear programme, after President Donald Trump accused Beijing of taking no action on Pyongyang despite profiting from business with America.

“We believe that the North Korea nuclear issue and China-US trade are two issues that are in two completely different domains,” Chinese Vice-Minister of Commerce Qian Keming said, adding that the issues “are not related and should not be discussed together”.

“Both China and the US have gained great profits from bilateral trade and investment cooperations.”

The comments came in response to a question about tweets from Trump on Saturday warning that he would no longer allow China to “do nothing” on North Korea, after the hermit state launched its second intercontinental ballistic missile test.

Trump has repeatedly urged China to rein in its neighbour, but Beijing insists dialogue is the only practical way forward.

In his critique, Trump linked trade with China to North Korea, after South Korea indicated it was speeding up the deployment of a US missile defence system that has infuriated China.

“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 they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk,” Trump wrote. AFP