Kerry looks to China to curb its ally’s belligerence
US Secretary of State John Kerry, pictured below, met China’s top leaders yesterday to persuade them to exert pressure on North Korea to scale back its belligerent rhetoric and return to nuclear talks.
Travelling to Beijing for the first time in his new role, Kerry made no secret of his desire to see China take a more active stance towards North Korea, which in recent weeks has threatened nuclear war against the United States and South Korea.
China is the North’s main trading partner, financial backer and the closest thing it has to a diplomatic ally. On Friday, Kerry said in the Korean capital Seoul before leaving for Beijing that China has a unique ability to use its leverage against the impoverished, isolated state.
Yesterday he told Chinese president Xi Jinping: “This is obviously a critical time with some very challenging issues – issues on the Korean peninsula, the challenge of Iran and nuclear weapons, Syria and the Middle East, and economies around the world in need of a boost.”
Kerry s aid l ater his talks with Xi were “constructive and forward-leaning”, but did not elaborate.
China had a testy relationship with Kerry’s predecessor, Hillary Clinton, believing her too abrasive in disagreements over issues from human rights to territorial disputes, such as in the South China Sea.
“Clinton added f uel to t he mistrust during her four-year term. We hope Kerry can pull it in the other direction,” China’s widelyread and influential Global Times tabloid said in an editorial.
Kerry’s visit to Asia, which will include a stop in Tokyo tomorrow, takes place after weeks of shrill North Korean threats of war since the imposition of new United Nations sanctions in response to its third nuclear test in February.
North Korea has repeatedly said it will not abandon nuclear weapons, which it said on Friday were its “treasured” guarantor of security. North Korean t e l evision yesterday made no mention of Kerry’s visit and devoted most of its reports to preparations for tomorrow’s celebrations marking the birthday of state founder Kim Il-Sung. Reports showed numer
ous floral tributes and a grandiose flower show, foreign visitors seeing the sights of the capital ahead of the festivities, and the unveiling of a monument in a provincial town.
But Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the ruling Workers’ Party, issued a fresh denunciation of joint US-South Korean military exercises, saying: “The outbreak of nuclear war has now become a fait accompli, owing to the US and the South Korean puppet forces.
“If the enemies dare provoke [North Korea] … it will immediately blow them up with an annihilating strike with the use of powerful nuclear means.”
However, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported a government source saying North Korea had not moved any mobile missile launchers for the past two days, after media reports that five missiles had been moved to the country’s east coast. Yonhap said there had been no signs “missile launches are imminent”.
Beijing has been reluctant to apply pressure on Pyongyang, fearing the instability that could result if the North were to implode and send floods of refugees into China, and has looked askance at US military drills in South Korea.