US and China to tackle nuclear threat
Washington urged to be cool-headed over Pyongyang
BEIJING // The US and China yesterday pledged to work together in addressing the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear programme, as US secretary of state Rex Tillerson warned regional tensions had reached a “dangerous level”.
The language from Mr Tillerson and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi after talks in Beijing was notably conciliatory although US president Donald Trump accused China of doing nothing to control Pyongyang while Beijing blamed Washington for fuelling hostilities. “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 Mr Wang.
“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 arrived in Beijing yesterday 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 US military action against North Korea was “on the table” as an option.
But he scaled back the tough talk in his appearance with Mr Wang, who appeared to chide the US diplomat over his rhetoric last week. “We hope all parties, including our friends from the United States, could size up the situation in a cool-headed and comprehensive fashion and arrive at a wise decision,” said Mr Wang.
Neither side indicated any concrete next steps, and Mr Tillerson did not explicitly support Beijing’s calls for negotiations with North Korea, which Washington has rejected.
On Friday, 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!” he tweeted. The US stance has hardened after 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. And Beijing berated Washington for escalating tensions by holding military exercises with Seoul and deploying an anti- missile system in South Korea.
One reason for the amicable tone yesterday could be the delicate negotiations under way for Chinese president Xi Jinping’s first summit with Mr Trump next month in the United States.
Mr Trump has been a frequent China critic, and the encounter could be crucial to setting the tone in the bilateral relationship.