Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson used an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal to pressure China to do more to help denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.
“China has a strong incentive to pursue the same goals as the U.S.,” they wrote in an op-ed in the Monday Wall Street Journal. “The North Korean regime’s actions and the prospect of nuclear proliferation or conflict threaten the economic, political and military security China has worked to build over decades.”
“North Korea’s behavior further threatens China’s long-term interest in regional peace and stability,” they added. “If China wishes to play a more active role in securing regional peace and stability — from which all of us, especially China, derive such great benefit — it must make the decision to exercise its decisive diplomatic and economic leverage over North Korea.”
Republicans and Democrats say China is the key to reining in North Korea, and Mattis and Tillerson agreed that it’s time for China to step up.
“Absent China using its influence to show the world how a great power should act to resolve such a well-defined problem as North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and long-range missile capability, others in the region are obliged to pursue prudent defensive measures to protect their people,” they wrote. “China’s Security Council vote was a step in the right direction. The region and world need and expect China to do more.”
They said Chinese companies account for about 90 percent of North Korea’s trade, which gives China an “unparallelled opportunity” to assert its influence.
The two Cabinet officials also stressed that the goal of the U.S. is the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and nothing more.
“The U.S. has no interest in regime change or accelerated reunification of Korea,” they wrote. “We do not seek an excuse to garrison U.S. troops north of the Demilitarized Zone.”
North Korea has tested two ICBMs since early July. Last week, North Korea was reported to be considering a plan to launch four missiles at U.S. territory Guam in the Pacific Ocean.
Trump has promised “fire and fury” if Kim Jong Un attacks the U.S.
