Will Xi and Trump find a meeting of minds over North Korea?
Andrew Hammond says despite bristly US-China exchanges over Pyongyang’s nuclear threat and the South’s hosting of THAAD, hopes of ‘cool-headedness’ prevail, especially with the usually hawkish Rex Tillerson’s visit underlining that Washington is seeking a new approach
Rex Tillerson on Sunday concluded his first trip to the Asia-Pacific region as US secretary of state, after stop-offs in Japan, South Korea and China.
North Korea topped the agenda, given continuing provocations from the regime, and Tillerson warned on Friday that Washington’s policy of “strategic patience” is now over and “all options”, including military action, are on the table.
Before Tillerson’s visit, Foreign Minister Wang Yi (王毅) asserted, in unusually blunt language, that Washington and Pyongyang were on a “head-on collision” course, and warned Tillerson on Saturday that “cool-headedness” was needed.
Beijing’s concern here is not just irresponsibility from North Korea, which launched a further four ballistic missiles earlier this month, but what it asserts is the United States fanning the flames by beginning last week its deployment of the controversial Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea.
Successive US administrations have discovered that security tensions on the Korean peninsula have no easy resolution
Beijing vehemently opposes the defence system, which it believes could be used for US espionage on China’s activities, as much as for targeting missiles from North Korea. Wang has therefore called for Seoul and Washington to “cease and desist” on THAAD deployment.
Successive US administrations have discovered that security tensions on the Korean peninsula have no easy resolution, and have grappled with the challenge of responding not just to missile launches by Pyongyang, but also its nuclear tests. Tillerson acknowledged on Thursday that “political and diplomatic efforts of the past 20 years to bring North Korea to the point of denuclearisation have failed”.
A police car is stationed outside a Lotte Mart store in Beijing, along with security guards, on March 17. Dozens of Lotte Mart discount stores in China were temporarily shut in early March after surprise inspections found fault with fire safety standards. Just days before, Lotte Group, South Korea’s fifth-largest company, agreed to let one of its golf courses be a site for deploying America’s THAAD anti-missile system. Photo: AP
Last year, president Barack Obama’s team talked tough with Asian allies on unilateral and multilateral sanctions, but found China reluctant to take comprehensive, sweeping measures against its erstwhile ally. This dialogue culminated in November with the UN voting to tighten sanctions in response to Pyongyang’s fifth nuclear test.
