US President Donald Trump says that the US is prepared to act alone if China does not take a tougher stand against North Korea’s nuclear program.
Trump’s comments in an interview with the Financial Times came just days before he is set to host Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at his Mar-a-Lago estate in South Florida.
The two are expected to discuss a number of issues, including North Korea, trade and territorial disputes in the South China Sea during their meeting on Thursday and Friday.
Photo: EPA
“Yes, we will talk about North Korea,” Trump told the newspaper for a story that appeared on Sunday on its Web site. “And China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won’t. And if they do, that will be very good for China, and if they don’t, it won’t be good for anyone.”
Trump said trade was the incentive for China to work with the US. Still, he said the US could “totally” handle the situation in North Korea without China’s help.
Asked how he would tackle North Korea, Trump said: “I’m not going to tell you. You know, I am not the United States of the past where we tell you where we are going to hit in the Middle East.”
While China provides diplomatic and economic support to its neighbor, it claims that its influence over North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s government is limited.
The relationship between the US and China has been uncertain since Trump’s election. During his campaign, he accused China of unfair trade practices and threatened to raise import taxes on Chinese goods and declare Beijing a currency manipulator, though it is unclear whether Trump will follow through with either threat.
Trump told the newspaper that he does not “want to talk about tariffs yet, perhaps the next time we meet.”
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley also offered tough talk on China on Sunday, saying on ABC’s television program This Week that the US is pressing Beijing to take a firmer stand regarding North Korea’s nuclear program.
UN resolutions have failed so far to deter North Korea from conducting nuclear and missile tests.
“They need to show us how concerned they are,” Haley said of the Chinese. “They need to put pressure on North Korea. The only country that can stop North Korea is China, and they know that.”
Asked what the US would do if China does not cooperate, Haley said: “China has to cooperate.”
However, former US secretary of defense Ash Carter said he doubted that Beijing would cooperate.
“I’ve been working on the North Korea problem since 1994,” Carter said on ABC. “And we have consistently asked Chinese leaders ... because they uniquely have the historical and the economic relationship with North Korea to make a difference.”
“They haven’t used that influence, and so it’s hard for me to be optimistic with that,” he said.
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