China helps pressure North Korea on nukes
Trump administration cautiously embraces newfound cooperation.
After the U.N. voted for more sanctions on North Korea, China called on its neighbor to halt its missile and nuclear tests.
A global pressure campaign on North Korea propelled by sharp new U.N. sanctions received a welcome boost Sunday from China,
the North’s economic lifeline, as Beijing called on its neighbor to halt its missile and nuclear tests.
The Trump administration cautiously embraced China’s apparent newfound coop- eration, while putting it on notice that the U.S. would be watching closely to ensure it didn’t ease up on North Korea if and when the world’s attention is diverted elsewhere. But there were no
signs the U.S. would acqui- esce to China’s call for a quick return to negotiations.
The diplomatic wrangling sought to build on the sweep- ing new North Korea sanc-
tions passed by the U.N. Secu- rity 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 Donald Trump was cheering the 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 characteris
tically understated fashion. For the U.S., it was a long- awaited sign of progress for Trump’s strategy of trying to enlist Beijing’s help to squeeze North Korea diplomatically and economi- cally. Chinese Foreign Min- ister 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.
Tillerson did not meet with North Korea’s envoy, Ri Yong Ho. In fact, on his first day in Manila, Tillerson appeared to go out of his way to avoid crossing paths with Ri.
Though Beijing repeated its call for the United States and North Korea to resume talks, the U.S. said that was still premature, and rejected yet again a Chinese call for the U.S. to freeze joint military exercises with South Korea in exchange for the North halting nuclear devel
opment. Pyongyang views the military exercises as rehearsals for an invasion.
The U.S. also warned it planned to rigorously moni- tor China’s compliance with the new penalties. Susan Thornton, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia, said Beijing had historically cooperated
with sanctions after flagrant North Korean violations but then slipped back over time.
“We want to make sure China is continuing to imple- ment fully the sanctions regime,” Thornton told reporters in Manila. “Not this kind of episodic back and forth that we’ve seen.”
Infusing the diplomatic gathering with dramatic intrigue was the presence of Ri, the odd man out at a meet-
ing dominated by concerns about his nation’s nuclear proliferation. Indeed, the U.S. was floating a proposal to temporarily kick North Korea out of the 27-mem- ber Association of South- east Asian Nations Regional Forum, although other mem- ber nations are divided about that idea. Would Tillerson interact
with his North Korean counterpart, even informally, if they crossed paths in Manila? It was a question driving the hallway chatter at the gathering, but the U.S. shot down that prospect and said Tillerson had no plans to interact with Ri.
Tillerson, who was scheduled to attend a gala dinner Sunday, skipped it. Ri did not. The North Korean was spotted at the gala smiling and toasting with the other foreign ministers.
Tillerson aide R.C. Hammond said that after a productive first day, Tillerson spent several hours prepar- ing for Day 2. Instead, the U.S. was represented at the dinner by Thornton, whose official title is acting assistant secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs.
T houg h Tille rs on has emphasized the Trump administration’s willing- ness to sit down with North Korea for negotiations, he’s said that won’t happen until
the North agrees to abandon its nuclear aspirations. Even with new U.N. sanctions in place intended to drive Pyongyang back to the table, conditions still aren’t ripe for talks, U.S. diplomats said.
But Wang, the Chinese envoy, cast Ri’s presence in Manila as a positive, enabling him to “hear the voices from other sides.” Speaking in Chinese, Wang said that Ri “also has the right to share his opinions.”
Ri hasn’t spoken publicly since arriving in the Philip- pines. But a commentary in the ruling party’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper said Washington had disregarded the warning the North sent with its intercontinental bal- listic missile tests and was pursuing “desperate efforts” in the form of stepped-up sanctions.
“Now the U.S. mainland is on the crossroads of life and death,” the commentary warned.