US accuses China of violating North Korea sanctions, undermining denuclearisation efforts

Name: North Korea’s new ‘monster’ intercontinental ballistic missiles on show at military parade
Uploaded: 2020-12-02T04:50:24.000Z
Duration: 2 min 49 s
Description: North Korea’s new ‘monster’ intercontinental ballistic missiles on show at military parade

The comments from Washington’s deputy special representative for North Korea marked an acknowledgement of US policy failure on Pyongyang

While US officials have in the past noted that China was not adhering to sanctions, they have rarely been so blunt in calling out the country’s behaviour

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Chinese President Xi Jinping walks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a visit to Pyongyang in June last year. Photo: Xinhua

Bloomberg

Published: 12:50pm, 2 Dec 2020Updated: 12:50pm, 2 Dec 2020

A senior US official has accused China of violating United Nations sanctions against North Korea, actions that he said go against a global consensus and undermine efforts to get the isolated regime to give up its nuclear weapons.

“There is no excuse for Beijing’s failures,” Alex Wong, the State Department’s deputy special representative for North Korea, said at a conference on Tuesday. “It has the resources to implement its UN sanctions obligations in its coastal waters. But, again, it chooses not to.”

Wong’s comments marked an acknowledgement that a central tenet of US policy toward Pyongyang – the strict enforcement of sanctions to pressure North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to join denuclearisation talks – has largely collapsed.

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North Korea’s new ‘monster’ intercontinental ballistic missiles on show at military parade

While officials have in the past noted that China was not adhering to the sanctions as closely as it once did, they have rarely been so blunt in calling out the country’s behaviour.

But the US relationship with Beijing has soured as President Donald Trump has sought to blame China for the scale of the Covid-19 pandemic, pressure it over the erosion of democratic freedoms in Hong Kong and criticise the government’s treatment of ethnic minority groups in the Xinjiang region.

After initially holding off to preserve trade negotiations, the US has dropped its restraint and now announces new sanctions and other punishments against China on a near-daily basis.

They are seeking to undo the UN sanctions regime they themselves voted for

Alex Wong, US deputy special representative for North Korea, on China

In his remarks, Wong not only accused China of failing to enforce sanctions but of trying to “revive trade links and revenue transfers to the North, thereby ensuring Chinese reach into the North’s economy”.

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