United States blasted China’s THAAD reaction, warned of secondary sanctions

Analysts say that Beijing’s usage of “mutual respect” carries the connotation that each side not interfere with each other’s “core interests”, which for China include Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet and and its territorial claims in the South China Sea.

“President Xi elaborated the key features in his meeting with President Barack Obama in Annenberg, Sunnylands in 2013”, Tao said on Tuesday, adding that while Obama was somehow short of endorsing “mutual respect”, Tillerson has taken a step forward.

Xi, for his part, welcomed the US president’s prospective visit, saying cooperation is the only correct option for the two countries, according to the foreign ministry. “Once the U.S. side take certain measures, we will evaluate and analyze such measures, and take actions when necessary”, Gao said.

Jin Canrong, a Sino-U.S. relations expert at Renmin University of China in Beijing, said Tillerson’s comments came as a surprise. “I think the problem is the diplomacy can not just be focused on North Korea, the diplomacy needs to be focused on other countries in the region, notably China”. This was a ludicrous proposal on several levels – not least because of the alleged moral equivalency between the United States and North Korea and China’s own effort to bow out of the problem. It also had increased military cooperation with allies South Korea and Japan and increased military exercises on the Korean peninsula.

“We renewed our determination to work together to convince North Korea to choose a better path and a different future for its people”, he said.

He called for the U.S.to use the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act, which was enacted previous year, to impose secondary sanctions Chinese banks and companies that violate United Nations sanctions and US law. “The President and the Secretary of State have an expectation that China employed multiple points of pressure on North Korea”, Spicer said.

“The series of provocations could be seen as a prelude to an additional strategic provocation such as an ICBM test, which North Korea mentioned in its New Year speech”, the ministry here said in a statement after the talks. Moreover, some reports of American media that the USA will consider to increase penalties against Chinese companies and banks doing business with North Korea has naturally alarmed Beijing.

Regional security experts were nonplussed by the events.

Lohman suggested that “the Chinese see some value to themselves – strategically – for North Korea to have this missile capability, and to have some sort of deterrent effect on the United States”.

“We call on the DPRK to refrain from provocative actions and inflammatory rhetoric that threaten worldwide peace and stability, and to make the strategic choice to fulfill its global obligations and commitments and return to serious talks”, a spokesperson for the State Department told VOA on Monday.

In other words: the United States should stay away from issues like Taiwan, Tibet or Hong Kong – and in principle nearly anything China’s Communist Party deems a vital national security concern. Or perhaps he was offering “face” to Chinese President Xi Jinping to compensate for vigorous private arm-twisting on the principal subject of the tour, North Korea. China realizes that a personal rapport with Trump is important, and watched in consternation as Japan’s President Shinzo Abe made an early visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Also, a commentary of The Heritage Foundation argues that “Trump’s ire has not deterred North Korea’s nuclear goals”.

North Korean state media said Mr Kim attended the test of a new high-thrust engine to propel rockets at the Sohae launch site.

“Tillerson’s visit and the upcoming presidential summit will help improve China-US relations, but we must be clear-headed for the ups and downs in such relationship, and be prepared for the complexity”, he said.