Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
North Korea’s launch of a longer-range missile shows advances in its technological capabilities and offers the sternest test yet of President Donald Trump’s strategy to work with China to combat the threat.
Will China fully enforce global sanctions on North Korea and back tough new penalties? If not, will Trump accept the growing calls from Congress to start targeting Chinese companies that help Pyongyang access international markets, even if that puts U.S.-China ties under new strain?
The U.N. Security Council is set to discuss North Korea’s latest provocation today. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley raised the possibility of a new set of global economic restrictions for the North, including on oil imports. France and Britain on Monday both publicly supported tougher sanctions.
China is feeling increasingly alienated from its wayward North Korean ally and Sunday’s headline-grabbing missile launch won’t have helped matters. It came as Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted 30 world leaders for talks on trade and infrastructure. The test also immediately closed the space for maneuvering for U.S.-allied South Korea’s new president, who favors engaging North Korea.
But Trump and Xi may have the most at stake. Beijing is wary of piling on economic pressure that could cause North Korea’s collapse, and it wasn’t clear Monday if it would support new sanctions. Opposing the North’s test, China’s Foreign Ministry called on all sides to exercise restraint.
China is the linchpin of Trump’s strategy for halting North Korea’s pursuit of a nuclear-tipped missile that could strike the U.S. mainland. Trump has feted Xi in hope of securing more pressure on the North, which counts on China for up to 90 percent of its trade.
“We are calling on all those folks in the region, particularly China and Russia, to do everything they can in terms of sanctions to help resolve this situation and bring stability to the peninsula,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters Monday.
Trump also has flexed U.S. military muscle, though with little apparent effect in deterring North Korean leader Kim Jong Un from his rapid tempo of weapons tests. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, which was ordered to the region last month, is still in the Sea of Japan, where the missile landed Sunday.