China is playing “a positive role” in negotiations over the denuclearization of North Korea, a diplomat maintained Monday.
“China’s attitude on this issue is consistent and clear-cut,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters during a press briefing. “We will continue to play a positive role in and make constructive contributions to realizing the denuclearization of the peninsula and achieving the long-lasting peace and stability of the region.”
U.S. officials tend to disagree. North Korea’s rebuff of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday, following his trip to Pyongyang, renewed skepticism that the regime would agree to dismantle its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. China, as the North Korea’s historic patron, took the blame in some quarters.
“Just now you said that some people in the U.S. associated the inconsistency of the statements made by the DPRK and the U.S. after their high-level meeting with China’s role in the Korean Peninsula issue,” Hua said. “I believe that it does not make any sense.”
She was responding specifically to Sen. Lindsey Graham. “I see China’s hands all over this,” the South Carolina Republican said Sunday on Fox News. “We’re in a fight with China. … If I were President Trump, I would not let China use North Korea to back me off of the trade dispute. We’ve got more bullets than they do in terms of trade.”
President Trump concurred with Graham. “I have confidence that Kim Jong Un will honor the contract we signed &, even more importantly, our handshake,” he tweeted on Monday. “We agreed to the denuclearization of North Korea. China, on the other hand, may be exerting negative pressure on a deal because of our posture on Chinese Trade-Hope Not!”
North Korea’s foreign ministry described Pompeo as “gangster-like” following their latest round of discussions, while the top U.S. diplomat described them as “productive” talks. Hua waved off the controversy.
“There seems to be some differences between the statements made by the two sides,” she said. “The Chinese side has been stressing that we hope that the DPRK and the U.S. can strengthen dialogue and consultation, follow through on the consensus and outcomes of the summit in Singapore, and move forward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and political settlement process of the Korean Peninsula issue in the right direction and strive to achieve steady progress in this aspect.”
