US Secretary of Defense James Mattis yesterday said that North Korea poses a global threat and praised China’s efforts to influence Pyongyang, while also criticizing Beijing over its continued “militarization” of the South China Sea.
US President Donald Trump — who frequently denounced China on the campaign trail — has turned to Beijing to help rein in North Korea’s weapons program, prompting concerns among Asian allies that the US might go easy on the South China Sea issue.
Calling North Korea’s nuclear ambitions a “threat to us all,” Mattis said the international community must work together.
Photo: EPA
“It is therefore imperative that we do our part each of us to fulfill our obligations and work together to support our shared goal of denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula,” Mattis said in a policy speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
Pyongyang on Monday test-fired another rocket, the latest in a series of launches and atomic tests that have ratcheted up tensions over its quest to develop weapons capable of hitting the US — something Trump has said “won’t happen.”
“The Trump administration is encouraged by China’s renewed commitment to work with the international community toward denuclearization,” Mattis said.
The defense chief spoke directly to concerns that the US might grant concessions to China to ensure its cooperation on North Korea, saying the issue was not “binary” and that the US would continue to pressure Beijing elsewhere.
“The scope and effect of China’s construction activities in the South China Sea differ from those of other countries in several key ways,” Mattis said.
“This includes the nature of its militarization... China’s disregard for international law... [and] its contempt for other nations’ interests,” he added.
The US Navy on May 25 conducted a “freedom of navigation” operation in the South China Sea, when the USS Dewey guided-missile destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles (22.22km) of Mischief Reef (Meiji Reef, 美濟礁) in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島).
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, despite partial counter-claims from Taiwan and several southeast Asian nations.
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