China extends hand to U.S. on North Korea
Leader says he is willing to work on nuclear threat
BEIJING - Beijing is willing to work with Washington on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons program but wants a peaceful solution to the escalating conflict, Chinese President Xi Jinping told President Donald Trump in a phone call Wednesday.
Xi’s comments came after Trump tweeted that China should do more on an issue that Washington sees as an increasingly urgent threat, or else the U.S. would go it alone.
China’s calls for calm come as tensions have risen with the dispatch of a U.S. aircraft carrier to the area and the deployment of thousands of U.S. and South Korean troops, tanks and other weaponry for their biggest-ever joint military exercises.
During their phone call, Xi told Trump that China is willing to continue working with the U.S. on denuclearization, according to a brief description of the call released by the Chinese foreign ministry.
“China insists on realizing the denuclearization of the peninsula, insists on maintaining peace and stability on the peninsula, and advocates resolving the problem through peaceful means,” Xi was quoted as saying.
The two leaders spoke Tuesday night Washington time after Trump said an “armada” of vessels including the USS Carl Vinson carrier was steaming to waters off the Korean Peninsula in a show of force.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a regular briefing in Beijing on Wednesday that it was a “good thing” that the two leaders were in touch again days after meeting in Florida.
Regarding the U.S. Navy strike force’s arrival in the western Pacific, Lu said: “We hope all parties will refrain from irresponsible actions that would be very dangerous at the moment.”
North Korean state media has warned of a nuclear attack on the United States in retaliation for any signs of aggression, a threat that has been made numerous times before.
Earlier Tuesday, Trump suggested the U.S. could “solve” the North Korea issue unilaterally.
“North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! U.S.A.,” Trump tweeted.
In another tweet, he sought to persuade Xi to put pressure on North Korea in exchange for a good trade deal with the U.S. He wrote: “I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the U.S. will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!”
Trump and other U.S. officials have repeatedly called on China to leverage its status as North Korea’s biggest economic partner and source of food and fuel aid to force Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
China says it is in full compliance with sanctions enacted under U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Beijing’s insistence on a peaceful approach to resolving the issue is rooted in its belief that any attempt to denuclearize the North by force would bring cataclysmic results upon all sides, including China, said expert Ruan Zongze.