China Briefing | With Trump in power, Pyongyang playing up, it’s time for the US and China to act on North Korea

Since the US presidential campaign, Donald Trump’s fiery and antagonistic attacks on China regarding issues ranging from currency and trade to Taiwan and the South China Sea have prompted much speculation that the world’s two largest economies are embarking on a dangerous path of confrontation.

But the first test of the bilateral relationship was passed relatively soon into the presidency, when Trump told President Xi Jinping ( 習近平 ) in a phone call this month that he would honour the one-China policy, an about-turn from his previous remarks that he intended to use Taiwan as a bargaining chip to gain concessions from China.

Now, with ties returning to a slightly warmer basis and both sides trying to figure out how to steer the relationship forward, North Korea has provided a good opportunity for Beijing and Washington to assess the possibilities for greater cooperation.

On February 18, China’s Ministry of Commerce suddenly announced a ban on imports from North Korea, effective from the following day until the end of the year. The surprise move is significant on multiple levels. The ban sends an unusually strong message to Pyongyang, as coal is its largest export item and China accounts for more than 90 per cent of North Korea’s foreign trade.

It also sends a message to Trump, who has complained loudly that Beijing is not doing enough to contain North Korea’s nuclear proliferation.

When it comes to China, there’s method in Trump’s madness

Chinese officials said only that the ban was an implementation of the latest United Nations Security Council resolution that tightened sanctions against the regime in the wake of its last nuclear test.