With an unstable Trump and Kim Jong-un, can China stop tensions erupting over North Korea?

Kevin Rafferty says it may be down to Beijing to display ‘coolheadedness’, as Pyongyang and the Trump White House have yet to show any intent to dial down the threats

Reading Time:4 minutes

Published: 5:56pm, 23 Mar 2017Updated: 7:42pm, 23 Mar 2017

Learning to live with each other is the only way forward, but that is far from the minds of Donald Trump or Kim Jong-un, dangerously volcanic blood brothers. Illustration: Craig Stephens

Foreign Minister Wang Yi ( 王毅 ) advised Rex Tillerson, the visiting US secretary of state, to “stay coolheaded” in the face of increasing tension in Asia, particularly on the Korean peninsula.

But the advice was too late and addressed to the wrong person. The worsening situation requires more than cool heads to avert disaster.

On his first foreign trip, Tillerson expostulated in South Korea that US patience with the North was running out and a pre-emptive military strike was not off the table. After meeting Wang for “a very extensive exchange” on the escalating tensions on the peninsula, he said China and the US had agreed to work together to stop Pyongyang making further provocations.

US threat to strike North Korea is ‘aimed at Beijing’s ears’

The next day, as Tillerson met President Xi Jinping (習近平), the North’s state news agency boasted that leader Kim Jong-un had overseen a “great leap forward” in its rocket industry, with the test of a powerful new engine. Pyongyang suggested that the engine could put a satellite into orbit; but it could also be used to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles at the US.

Tillerson reportedly told Xi that President Donald Trump wants to “enhance understanding” with China and that the two countries could have a “cooperative relationship”. Xi responded that cooperation was “the only correct option”.

But Trump himself cut some of the ground from under Tillerson by tweeting: “North Korea is behaving very badly. They have been ‘playing’ the United States for years. China has done little to help!”

For all Tillerson’s high-profile meetings, including with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Japan, US commentators are asking whether he is an empty suit in terms of policymaking under Trump.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x