Trump pressures China to alleviate the North Korea crisis
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U.S President Trump seeks to engage China to help ease the tensions with North Korea. Trump labeled North Korea as “a great threat and an embarrassment to China.” U.S officials believe that China, as North Korea’s major trading partner, has the leverage to tone down Kim Jong-un’s behavior.
As tensions with North Korea escalate, President Trump wants China to adopt a more proactive stance. In one of his latest tweets, Trump condemned North Korea and said it has become an “embarrassment to China.” Trump’s tweet singled out China as a crucial power to help ease tensions in the region.
Trump’s tweet came after Kim Jong-un detonated a thermonuclear bomb on Sunday. The explosion caused a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in their testing ground, located in their north-eastern region. After promising to unleash “fire and fury” if Kim continued with his nuclear tests, Trump now opted to mildly criticize China’s inertia. Beijing stands alone as the main oil supplier to North Korea. Analysts believe that cutting off oil supplies would destabilize the rogue nation.
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Trump also threatened to cut off trade with any “country doing business with North Korea.” Trump’s statement, also in a tweet, arose controversy since the U.S imports Chinese goods worth around $30 billion per month.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the latest nuclear test. Yet, Geng Shuang, the foreign ministry spokesman, said that Trump’s latest approach was “unfair” to China. Mr. Shuang said that the international community “cannot solely rely on China to resolve this issue…we need all parties to work in the same direction.”
The Chinese latest response fits within its past stance in the region. China does not feel threatened by North Korean nuclear warheads. Analysts hold that China’s fears lie in a potential North Korean’ downfall, which may unify them with South Korea (controlled by the United States.) Such outcome may undermine China’s geopolitical hold in a region mainly controlled by the U.S.
Most analysts contend that the Chinese President Xi Jinping is not going to change his approach.
As the issues remain unsolved, President Trump has said he is seeking “other alternatives.”
Photo Credit: Elizabeth Brockway
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