China envoy says North Korea trade growth picture 'distorted'
US President Donald Trump had criticised Beijing for an apparent increase in trade with Pyongyang, despite sanctions aimed at reining in its weapons programme
China’s ambassador to the United States has said reports of trade growth between his country and North Korea, in spite of international efforts to press Pyongyang to give up its nuclear and missile programs, give “a distorted picture”.
US President Donald Trump last week denounced China’s trade with North Korea, saying it had grown almost 40 per cent in the first quarter, and cast doubt on whether Beijing was helping to counter the threat from North Korea.
Data released in April showed China’s trade with North Korea grew 37.4 per cent year on year in the first quarter, in spite of a ban on coal imports China announced in February.
“This is a distorted picture,” China’s ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, said in a speech to a Washington think tank on Monday.
Cui said trade between the two countries declined in 2015 and 2016, and by 41 per cent in April and 32 per cent in May as a result of the coal import ban.
At the same time, Cui stressed that UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea did not constitute an embargo. “Normal trade ... is not banned by these sanctions,” he said.
Cui said China backed further UN action against North Korea for violations of UN resolutions such as nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
He did not, however, make clear whether China believed North Korea’s latest missile test last week, which the United States described as a first ICBM test, was that type of missile.
Diplomats say the United States is aiming for a vote within weeks to strengthen UN sanctions on North Korea over the test, but Russia has objected to a Security Council condemnation of the launch as a US-drafted statement label;ed it an ICBM.
Cui said sanctions were necessary, but could not solve the North Korean problem alone. He repeated a call for Washington to back a Chinese “suspension for suspension” proposal under which North Korea would freeze weapons testing in return for a halt to US-South Korean military exercises.
Washington says the exercises are needed to maintain defences against North Korea and US officials say Beijing could face US economic and trade pressure unless it does more to rein in North Korea.
Washington is expected to press the issue when senior US and Chinese officials meet on July 19 to discuss economic issues.
