China exerts pressure on N. Korea on missile testing

MANILA, Philippines — China is calling on North Korea to halt its missile and nuclear tests, in a strong boost to a global pressure campaign propelled by sharp new U.N. sanctions on the isolated dictatorship.

The Trump administration cautiously embraced the apparent newfound cooperation by China — which has long provided an economic lifeline for North Korea — while putting it on notice that the U.S. would be watching closely to ensure it didn’t ease up. But there were no signs the U.S. would acquiesce to China’s call for a quick return to negotiations.

The diplomatic wrangling sought to build on the sweeping new North Korea sanctions passed by the U.N. Security Council a day earlier — the strongest in a generation, the U.S. said.

As diplomats gathered in the Philippines for an annual regional meeting, President Trump was cheering the U.N.’s move. He cited the “very big financial impact” of the sanctions and noted optimistically that both China and Russia had joined in the unanimous vote.

“It was a good outcome,” U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in characteristically understated fashion.

For the U.S., it was a longawaited sign of progress for Trump’s strategy of trying to enlist Beijing’s help to squeeze North Korea diplomatically and economically. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, meeting with North Korea’s top diplomat during the gathering in Manila, urged the North to “maintain calm” despite the U.N. vote.

“Do not violate the U.N.’s decision or provoke international society’s goodwill by conducting missile launching or nuclear tests,” Wang said, in an unusually direct admonition.

The new sanctions could cut off roughly one-third of North Korea’s estimated $3 billion in annual exports, ostensibly denying the nation of funds for its weapons programs.

The U.S. drafted the sanctions resolution and negotiated it with China following North Korea’s unprecedented test of an ICBM in July and a follow-up test weeks later.