Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday called for all sides to exercise restraint in a telephone call about North Korea with US President Donald Trump, as Japan conducted joint drills with a US aircraft carrier strike group headed for Korean waters.
The carrier group was sent by Trump for exercises in waters off the Korean Peninsula as a warning, amid growing fears North Korea could conduct another nuclear test soon in defiance of UN sanctions.
Angered by the approach of the US carrier group, a defiant North Korea yesterday said the deployment of the USS Carl Vinson was “an extremely dangerous act by those who plan a nuclear war to invade the North.”
“The United States should not run amok and should consider carefully any catastrophic consequence from its foolish military provocative act,” the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, said in a commentary.
“What’s only laid for aggressors is dead bodies and deaths,” the newspaper said.
Two Japanese destroyers have already joined the carrier group for drills in the western Pacific, and South Korea yesterday said it was also in talks about holding joint naval exercises.
China is increasingly worried the situation could spin out of control, leading to war and a chaotic collapse of its neighbor.
Xi told Trump that China resolutely opposes any actions that run counter to UN Security Council resolutions, a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement said.
China “hopes that all relevant sides exercise restraint, and avoid doing anything to worsen the tense situation on the peninsula,” the statement paraphrased Xi as saying.
The nuclear issue can only be resolved quickly with all relevant countries pulling in the same direction, and China is willing to work with all parties, including the US, to ensure peace, Xi said.
The issue has gained added urgency as North Korea prepares to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the foundation of its Korean People’s Army today. It has marked similar events in the past with nuclear tests or missile launches.
Earlier, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe described his conversation with Trump as a “thorough exchange of views.”
“We agreed to strongly demand that North Korea, which is repeating its provocation, show restraint,” Abe told reporters.
“We will maintain close contact with the United States, keep a high level of vigilance and respond firmly,” he said.
Abe also said he and Trump agreed that China should play a large role in dealing with Pyongyang.
A Japanese official said the phone call between Trump and Abe was not prompted by any specific change in the situation.
The US government has not specified where the carrier strike group is, but US Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday said that it would arrive “within days.”
South Korean Ministry of National Defense spokesman Moon Sang-gyun gave no further details about the South’s plans, other than saying Seoul was holding discussions with the US Navy.
“I can say the South Korean and US militaries are fully ready for North Korea’s nuclear test,” Moon said.
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