Trump has ways to pressure China
President hints he will look for options to stem North Korea’s nuclear threat
President Trump expressed frustration Wednesday that China is not doing enough to pressure its ally North Korea to halt its nuclear missile program, and he signaled he may turn to other options to thwart North Korea’s ambitions.
“Trade between China and North Korea grew almost 40% in the first quarter,” Trump tweeted. “So much for China working with us — but we had to give it a try!”
Trump’s tweet came a day after North Korea said it tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching Alaska. The missile, able to carry a nuclear warhead, is intended to “put an end to the U.S. nuclear war threat and blackmail,” according to a statement by North Korea’s official news agency.
Here are some options for Trump: ENFORCE SANCTIONS At an emergency meeting Wednesday of the United Nations Security Council, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said countries face a choice: Trade with North Korea, or trade with the United States.
“Countries that are allowing, even encouraging, trade with North Korea in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions ... also would like to maintain their trade relationship with the United States,” Haley said. “That’s not going to happen. The U.S. has considerable military capabilities, but we prefer not to go in that direction.”
The latest sanctions resolution passed by the U.N. Security Council in November was touted as the strongest ever, but the State Department and analysts say those measures have yet to be fully enforced.
The sanctions limit North Korea’s sale of conventional weapons, coal and iron ore, especially if revenue would benefit its nuclear or ballistic missile programs.
China, which handles 90% of North Korea’s trade with other countries, increased trade with North Korea 37% in the first quarter of this year, just before Beijing announced it would cut back buying cheap, high-quality North Korean anthracite coal, said economist Thomas Byrne, presi- dent of the Korea Society, a New York City-based group that promotes understanding between the United States and Korea.
North Korea also trades with Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Iran and Congo.
China and other countries are not implementing all the U.N. sanctions, said Anthony Ruggiero, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a think tank in Washington.
Some of those countries need help from the United States to screen for complicated financial arrangements designed to hide North Korean involvement, while others are not interested in implementing the sanctions because they benefit from cut-rate North Korean pricing, Ruggiero said. STOP MISSILE CARRIERS The United States could call out companies involved in North Korea’s weapons programs, such as two Chinese trucking companies that provided or helped build vehicles that North Korea uses to transport, erect and launch its missiles, said Richard Fisher, a China and Korea analyst at the International Assessment and Strategy Center.
China Aerospace Science and Industry and the China National Heavy Duty Truck Group, or Sinotruk, have provided trucks or missile carriers North Korea uses to transport missiles aimed at U.S. forces in Asia, Fisher said. The vehicles were displayed in a military parade April 15, when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s forces showed off their capabilities.
“We should have no problem demanding that the Chinese take back all these large 16-wheel transporter erector launchers,” Fisher said. EXPOSE BEIJING’S SUPPORT U.S. intelligence officials could expose companies helping North Korea obtain the capacity to produce lithium-6. It is crucial to develop thermonuclear weapons that produce a far more powerful blast than atomic bombs, Fisher said.
According to a report March 17 by the Institute for Science and International Security, North Korea arranged in 2012 to purchase materials in China, including mercury and lithium hydroxide. Those substances together indicate an effort to produce lithium-6 for weapons, according to the report.
That means the Chinese government approved the transfer of technology to manufacture thermonuclear weapons to North Korea, Fisher said. “It’s simply inconceivable that the Chinese government would have allowed the transfer of this kind of technology without multilevel approval,” he said.