China on Tuesday pushed for dialogue with North Korea and the full implementation of United Nations sanctions over Pyongyang's ballistic missile and nuclear tests, skirting questions about Beijing's talks with the United States on possible new measures.
Almost a month ago Washington began discussions with North Korea ally, China, on strengthening UN sanctions. However, a week ago US Ambassador to UN Nikki Haley said that Beijing had gone quiet.
Traditionally, the United States and China have negotiated new sanctions before involving the 13 other UN Security Council members. The Trump administration has been aggressively pressing China to rein in North Korea, warning that all options are on the table if Pyongyang persists with its weapons development.
When asked on Tuesday if Beijing was talking to Washington about possible new sanctions, China's UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi said:
It’s up to the council to decide what we should do in the current situation. We’re working closely with other members.
Liu spoke after a closed-door Security Council meeting on North Korea's latest missile test. Pyongyang said it launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile which met all technical requirements and could now be mass-produced, although US officials questioned the extent of its progress.
The Security Council first imposed sanctions on Pyongyang in 2006 and ratcheted up the measures in response to five nuclear tests and two long-range missile launches. North Korea is threatening a sixth nuclear test.
First and foremost it is important to implement the Security Council resolutions in a comprehensive way. We should also work to reduce tension, to de-escalate, and also to try to achieve denuclearisation through dialogue.Liu Jieyi, Chinese Ambassador to UN
Britain's UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft and French UN Ambassador Francois Delattre both said on Tuesday that they supported strengthening UN sanctions on North Korea.
North Korea, also known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), has vowed to develop a missile mounted with a nuclear warhead that can strike mainland United States, saying the program is necessary to counter US aggression.
We don’t see why dialogue cannot take place in the current situation. It takes political will.Liu Jieyi, Chinese Ambassador to UN.
US President Donald Trump said on 1 May that he would be ‘honoured’ to meet the North's leader, Kim Jong Un, under the right conditions.
A US State Department spokesman said:
North Korea would have to cease all its illegal activities and aggressive behaviour in the region.
The United States has also called on all states to sever or downgrade diplomatic and commercial relations with North Korea. Despite this call, a new weekly ferry service between North Korea and Russia began last week.
The North Korean Foreign Ministry on Tuesday defended the ferry service and said that a bid by the US to boost sanctions on Pyongyang was arousing a strong backlash and rejection from Russia as it is an arbitrary practice seriously encroaching on the legal interests of not only the DPRK, but also Russia.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)