US-China trade war ‘saps Beijing’s incentive’ to pressure Pyongyang on nuclear weapons
World’s great powers are turning North Korea into a competition for influence, analyst says
The US-China trade war is eroding Beijing’s incentive to work with Washington in pressuring Pyongyang give up its nuclear weapons programme, according diplomatic observers.
With Washington and China announcing fresh tariffs on Monday, China was likely to use the denuclearisation issue as a bargaining chip in the trade war with the United States, they said, despite Beijing saying earlier that the two issues were separate.
Harry Kazianis, director of defence studies at the Washington-based Centre for the National Interest, said the two issues were tied.
“When Trump came into the office, his goal was to take on China … but as North Korea started to test its intercontinental ballistic missiles and upgraded nuclear weapons [targeting the US], he needed China’s help to contain North Korea to denuclearise,” Kazianis said.
What incentive does Beijing have to help on the North Korean issue? It has none now
“But when [Trump] is hitting China with tariffs, China is less likely to help the president containing North Korea …. I think we can say the maximum pressure is over.”