War of words as Us-china relations sour

Frosty public exchanges as Pompeo and Beijing counterpart’s talks over Korea deal end in discord

THE US is in “fundamental disagreement” with China over trade and foreign policy, Washington’s top diplomat said yesterday, as relations between the superpowers continue to deteriorate.

Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, arrived in Beijing yesterday to brief China on his latest talks with Kim Jong-un, the North Korea leader.

But recent diplomatic spats, in which the US has ramped up its trade war and accused China of meddling in the midterm elections, appeared to dominate, manifesting in a frosty public exchange between Mr Pompeo and Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister.

“We have grave concerns about the actions that China has taken,” Mr Pompeo told a press conference while standing next to his counterpart.

Mr Wang reciprocated the terse tone, saying the US had made “a direct attack on our mutual trust, and has cast a shadow on Us-china relations”. He added: “We demand the US stop the unwarranted accusations and wrongdoings against China immediately.”

The public airing of discord shows how an escalating trade spat between the countries could thwart joint efforts on other issues such as North Korea.

Last Thursday Mike Pence, the US vice president, gave a scathing speech about China, accusing Beijing of unfair market practices, meddling in US elections and orchestrating a widespread campaign to undermine the US and bolster Chinese influence worldwide. Beijing has denied those claims.

In private, Mr Wang yesterday urged the US to stop selling arms to Taiwan and to cut off official visits and military ties with the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement.

Mr Pompeo is concluding a visit to Asia which included stops in North Korea, South Korea and Japan, where he met with the leaders of all three countries. In a sign of continuing friction, he met with Mr Wang instead of Xi Jinping, the Chinese president.

Yesterday, Mr Pompeo said Kim was ready to allow international inspectors into the North’s nuclear and missile testing sites – including a missile engine test facility and the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site. Mr Pompeo said a visit would commence once both sides agreed on logistics. He also said the US and North Korea were “pretty close” to agreeing details of a second summit, following the first in Singapore in June between Mr Trump and Kim.

North Korean state media reported that Kim had “expressed satisfaction” following his talks with Mr Pompeo.

Senior US officials said the US still expected cooperation with Beijing on efforts to denuclearise North Korea.

If ties between China and the US continue to deteriorate, there could be “profound changes” in the strategic environment for such regional issues as North Korea, China’s state-backed Global Times tabloid warned in an editorial. “For Asia, the severity of Chinaus frictions is taking up much attention and is, to some extent, diluting attention paid to the Korean peninsula issue,” it said.