China denies supplying oil
China has denied that it is supplying oil to North Korea in violation of United Nations sanctions aimed at curbing Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes, after online criticism from United States President Donald Trump.
‘‘Caught RED HANDED – very disappointed that China is allowing oil to go into North Korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen!’’ Trump tweeted on Friday.
South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported this week that images taken by US spy satellites showed a North Korean vessel loading oil at sea from a Chinese tanker.
Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said yesterday that Beijing had ‘‘completely and strictly’’ complied with the sanctions.
She added that authorities had investigated a report that a Chinese ship had contravened the sanctions by transferring oil to a North Korean ship at sea in October, and had concluded that the report was false.
China has previously denied that it is violating sanctions on oil sales to Pyongyang. Trump has spent months lobbying China and other nations to cut off economic assistance to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s government.
Yesterday it emerged that South Korean customs officials had boarded the Chinese ship Lighthouse Winmore, which is registered in Hong Kong, and interviewed crew members after it made for the South Korean port of Yeosu on November 24.
Officials seized the vessel on December 22, after the UN Security Council imposed new sanctions on North Korea.
The Lighthouse Winmore was suspected of transferring about 600 tonnes of refined petroleum products to a North Korean ship in international waters in the East China Sea on October 19 after leaving Yeosu, a South Korean foreign ministry official said.
Beijing has denied helping North Korea break embargoes, but is willing to put just four of 10 vessels the US wants sanctioned on a UN blacklist.
Trump said he had ‘‘been soft’’ on China in the hope that it would pressure North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons, but hinted that his patience might soon end.
‘‘Oil is going into North Korea. That wasn’t my deal!’’ he told The New York Times, before appearing to raise the prospect of US trade restrictions on Chinese imports.
‘‘If they don’t help us with North Korea, then I do what I’ve always said I want to do,’’ he said. ‘‘They have to help us much more. We have a nuclear menace, which is no good for China.’’