China says it doesn’t hold key to N Korea issue
WASHINGTON/BEIJING: China “doesn’t hold the key to solving the North Korea issue,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Friday, a day after the chief US diplomat stated that China had pressured North Korea away from conducting a new nuclear test.
China has not escalated the conflicts surrounding North Korea, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a press conference in Beijing.
“The solution to this issue requires collective thinking and joint efforts,” Geng said. He added that China supports UN Security Council resolutions against North Korea’s nuclear programme and encourages solving the problem through “dialogue and communication.”
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday said China has threatened to impose sanctions on North Korea if it carries out another nuclear test. In an interview with Fox News, he said China had confirmed that it had asked Pyongyang not to conduct any further nuclear tests.
“And in fact, we were told by the Chinese that they informed the regime that if they did conduct a further nuclear test, China would be taking sanctions actions on their own,” he said.
Washington on Wednesday said it was weighing a series of options, including military action, in response to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.
Earlier this week, US troops began installing the THAAD missile defence system in South Korea, despite strong opposition from China.
But during a visit by Chinese President Xi Xinping to the US earlier this month, US President Donald Trump struck a notably less anti-China tone in an attempt to woo Beijing into doing more to deal with the North Korean nuclear threat.