N. Korea crux of Tillerson-China talks
US secretary of state Rex Tillerson faces a tough first trip to Asia this week when he will seek to reassure allies facing North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats and press China to do more on perhaps the most serious security challenge confronting President Donald Trump.
Mr Tillerson will visit Japan and South Korea before heading to Beijing, where he is expected to firm up a US visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping next month.
But the chances of Mr Tillerson persuading China to do more to curb North Korea’s weapons programmes appear scant, given China’s anger at the deployment of a US antimissile system in South Korea last week, and Mr Trump’s threats to impose punitive tariffs on Beijing to correct trade imbalance.
Mr Tillerson faces a delicate task in South Korea, which is in political turmoil after former President Park Geun-hye was ousted in a corruption scandal.
The prospects of a victory by South Korea’s liberal opposition in elections to be held within two months, has raised questions about the future there of the USmade THAAD missile defense system.
Beijing has sought to pressure Seoul to drop it.
In Seoul on Friday, Tillerson will meet the acting President, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, and foreign minister Yun Byung-se.