WASHINGTON — A U.N. resolution proposed against North Korea after its recent nuclear test and rocket launch will affect exchanges with its traditional ally China, that country’s top diplomat said Thursday.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in Washington for talks with top U.S. officials, said the resolution would entail actions “to limit the development of nuclear missile technologies” in North Korea, but he provided no details.
Diplomats said Wednesday that the U.S. and China have agreed upon a resolution. The U.S. said a draft of resolution was due to be submitted Thursday to the Security Council, the U.N.’s top decision-making body.
China has been critical of neighboring North Korea’s Jan. 6 underground nuclear explosion and Feb. 7 rocket launch, but as its main trading partner and supporter on the council, it has been reluctant to impose measures that could threaten the isolated nation’s stability and cause its economy to collapse.
“We are saying to the international community, and we have the understanding of other members on the Security Council, that the normal exchanges, especially those affecting the livelihood of the North Korean people, should not be adversely affected,” Wang told the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington.
“On the other hand, in order to uphold the international nuclear nonproliferation regime, for the sake of denuclearization, our exchanges will be affected to some extent. And this has not come as a surprise to us,” he said.
The U.S. has been pushing China to increase pressure on Pyongyang, and last week President Barack Obama signed into law tough new U.S. sanctions that could hit Chinese banks and companies that deal with North Korea. The U.S. and close ally South Korea are also considering deployment of a missile defense system, strongly opposed by China.
Wang said that Washington and Seoul must also consider China’s national security interests. He played down the influence Beijing has over North Korea, saying that ultimately, “the DPRK will go in the direction it has set for itself.” He was referring to North Korea by the abbreviation for its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
He called for resumption of international nuclear negotiations with Pyongyang, hosted by China, that have been in limbo for eight years.
China is urging parallel talks both on denuclearization — the top priority of the United States — and replacing the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War with a formal peace treaty — a key demand of Pyongyang.
“We must not give up on peace talks which provide the only viable solution to the nuclear issue,” Wang said.
