China has come to the realization that it has limited time to rein in North Korea’s nuclear and missile program through negotiations, and is open to further sanctions against Pyongyang, a senior US Department of State official said yesterday.
Speaking at a news briefing in Beijing, US Acting Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton said China understood that the US viewed the North Korea situation as an urgent “time-limited problem set.”
“So they know now that they don’t have, I think, as much time to try to bring the North Koreans to the table to get their calculus changed and get them to the negotiating table,” she said. “I think that has lent some urgency to their measures.”
Pyongyang has conducted dozens of missile tests, the latest on Sunda, and tested two nuclear bombs since the start of last year, in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.
It says the program is necessary to counter US aggression.
Thornton said the US was looking at discussing with China a new UN Security Council resolution on prenegotiated measures to reduce delays in any response to further nuclear tests or other provocations from the North.
While China believes sanctions against North Korea “don’t work overnight,” Thornton said there were no indications that Beijing had gone cold on potentially implementing more of them against Pyongyang.
“Their calculus about how much pressure to impose on North Korea is related to their tolerance for potential instability, which is low, I would say,” she said.
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) on Wednesday said no one had the right to bring chaos to the Korean Peninsula, a day after Beijing pushed for full implementation of UN sanctions and called for dialogue.
The North has proudly publicized its plans to develop a missile capable of striking the US and has ignored calls to halt its weapons programs, even from ally China.
Even as Washington seeks greater Chinese cooperation on North Korea, a US navy warship sailed within 12 nautical miles (22.2km) of Mischief Reef (Meiji Reef, 美濟礁) in the disputed Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), which Taiwan also claims, officials said on Wednesday, the first such maneuver since US President Donald Trump took office.
It prompted an angry response from Beijing, which accused the US of jeopardizing an easing of tension between China and other claimants in the South China Sea — Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Thornton said Washington’s policy on the South China Sea had not changed under Trump and that it remained supportive of the diplomatic processes under way.
“It doesn’t mean we are going to change our military presence or our security commitments in the region,” she said. “Those need to stay and they need to be there, and that will give confidence to the diplomatic process, we think.”
Freedom of navigation operations were not the central part of US policy in the South China Sea, “but to the extent that we continue to do it, we don’t shy away from doing it, that’s a continuation,” she said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number