Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Thursday that President Trump was “parroting” North Korean and Chinese propaganda when he called U.S. military exercises “provocative.”
The president’s decision to halt major U.S.-South Korea military exercises was a mistake and undermines U.S. security, the Senate Armed Services chairman said in a statement issued from Arizona.
“Making unnecessary and unreciprocated concessions is not in our interests — and it is a bad negotiating tactic. Parroting Chinese and North Korean propaganda by saying joint exercises are ‘provocative’ undermines our security and alliances,” he said.
Suspending US-South Korea joint military exercises is a mistake. I hope the President is successful in his efforts to achieve full denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. But making unnecessary & unreciprocated concessions is not in our interests. https://t.co/ntvxgEVAwz
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) June 14, 2018
The U.S. must now work closely with allies South Korea and Japan as it negotiates with North Korea on the future of its nuclear weapons program, said McCain, who left Washington in December and is being treated for an aggressive form of brain cancer.
Trump announced the halt to “war games” with South Korea following his meeting this week with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in Singapore. He criticized the long-standing exercises as provocative, costly, and “inappropriate.”
We save a fortune by not doing war games, as long as we are negotiating in good faith – which both sides are!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 13, 2018
The two leaders agreed to pursue the dismantlement of the North’s nuclear program, which includes intercontinental missiles that could reach the U.S.
“I continue to hope that President Trump will be successful in his diplomatic efforts to achieve the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” McCain said. “But we must not impose upon ourselves the burden of providing so-called ‘good faith’ concessions as the price for continued dialogue.”
