China, US progress on NK sanctions
Print Edition
CHINA and the United States say they have made progress toward a draft UN sanctions resolution that will punish North Korea for its recent nuclear tests and push it to the negotiating table.
After talks in Washington, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday that the draft was being evaluated by officials before being submitted to the UN Security Council.
But both countries vowed that they would not accept a nuclear-armed North Korea and expressed confidence the resolution would be strong enough to force North Korea to reconsider its strategy.
China wants its neighbor to halt its weapons program — most recently shown by the January 6 test of an atomic bomb Pyongyang claims was a new thermonuclear device — and return to six-party international talks.
Wang said his talks with Kerry had made progress in agreeing a draft sanctions resolution to be presented to the full UN Security Council.
“We do not accept the DPRK’s nuclear missile program and we do not recognize the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state,” he said, using the abbreviation for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name.
“Important progress has been made in the consultations and we are looking at the possibility of reaching agreement on a draft resolution and passing it in the near future.”
Both men said the goal of the resolution is not to worsen the standoff with Kim Jong Un’s government, but to persuade it to resume talks on ending his nuclear program.
“We have made significant progress, it has been very constructive in the last days,” Kerry said. “And there is no question that if the resolution is approved, it will go beyond anything that we have previously passed,” he added. “I believe that what we are considering is significant but, as I say, it is in the appropriate evaluative stages and we both hope that this can move forward very soon.”
Pyongyang has done nothing to moderate its tone since January’s test caused international outrage, and on Tuesday promised a “strategic” response if it felt threatened by an upcoming joint US-South Korean military exercise.
Kerry said a denuclearized North Korea could one day enter talks with Washington to negotiate a formal peace deal to officially end hostilities that began with the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950.
On Sunday, the State Department had confirmed that Pyongyang had reached out to the US in a tentative bid to discuss a peace treaty, but said the January test had derailed the initiative.
“We carefully considered their proposal, and made clear that denuclearization had to be part of any such discussion. North Korea rejected our response,” spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Kerry also said there would be no need to deploy the THAAD missile defense system in ally South Korea if North Korea’s weapons were not threatening the region.
On the South China Sea issue, Wang reiterated the stance that islands in the region have historically been China’s territory. He said China is committed to resolving disputes through peaceful dialogue and negotiation.
The South China Sea issue is not and should not become an issue between China and US, Wang said, stressing it is important to prevent any miscalculation between Washington and Beijing.
He noted that both China and the US share common interests regarding the South China Sea, including maintaining peace and stability.
“China, United States, and ASEAN countries have all committed to non-militarization,” Wang said. “Non-militarization is not the responsibility of one party alone; it’s something that we share.”
Asked about the reported building of radar facilities, Wang said: “It’s important to notice that in recent decades some countries have illegally occupied China’s reefs and atolls and have engaged in large-scale military constructions not only of radars, but also of missiles and all kinds of cannons and artilleries,” he said.
Wang dismissed the notion there are problems with freedom of navigation in the area. “No commercial vessel has encountered any problem in the area of freedom of navigation,” Wang said.
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