Calling out Beijing: US ‘gift’ to China shows unenforced North Korea sanctions
- Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan surprised Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe with ‘beautiful’ present during meeting in Singapore
- What looked like a coffee-table book was actually 32 pages of photos and satellite images of North Korean ships getting and delivering shipments of oil
The meeting between acting US defence secretary Patrick Shanahan and his Chinese counterpart began with all the hallmarks of a routine staged and scripted session between two uneasy rivals.
First came the posed photo, as the two men shook hands with broad smiles in front of their nations’ flags, and then they moved quickly into the hotel conference room, surrounded by staff. There, Shanahan presented Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe with a gift.
But what at first glance looked like a coffee-table book was actually 32 pages of photographs and satellite images of North Korean ships getting and delivering shipments of oil.
Many of the photos are stamped with dates, times, locations and descriptions, and, according to officials, represent proof that Pyongyang is violating punishing economic sanctions right off China’s coast.
“I gave him this beautiful book,” Shanahan said a day after his meeting with Wei and his top staff at a national security conference in Singapore. “I said this is an area where you and I can cooperate.”