With Trump in power, Pyongyang playing up, it’s time for the US and China to act on North Korea
Beijing’s loss of patience with Kim Jong-un and an unconventional thinker in the White House open up an opportunity for Sino-American cooperation
Since the US presidential campaign, Donald Trump’s fiery and antagonistic attacks on China regarding issues ranging from currency and trade to Taiwan and the South China Sea have prompted much speculation that the world’s two largest economies are embarking on a dangerous path of confrontation.
But the first test of the bilateral relationship was passed relatively soon into the presidency, when Trump told President Xi Jinping ( 習近平 ) in a phone call this month that he would honour the one-China policy, an about-turn from his previous remarks that he intended to use Taiwan as a bargaining chip to gain concessions from China.
Now, with ties returning to a slightly warmer basis and both sides trying to figure out how to steer the relationship forward, North Korea has provided a good opportunity for Beijing and Washington to assess the possibilities for greater cooperation.
It also sends a message to Trump, who has complained loudly that Beijing is not doing enough to contain North Korea’s nuclear proliferation.
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Chinese officials said only that the ban was an implementation of the latest United Nations Security Council resolution that tightened sanctions against the regime in the wake of its last nuclear test.
Yet timing is everything in diplomacy, and the timing of the announcement of the ban suggests much closer communication between Beijing and Washington than is acknowledged publicly.
Given its urgency and importance, the North Korean issue may have been a large part of the telephone conversation between Xi and Trump. Trump has described the conversation as “a long talk” in which “a lot of subjects” were discussed.
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During a phone call last Tuesday, Tillerson and Yang “agreed on the need to address the threat that North Korea poses to regional stability”, according to a statement from the US State Department.
A Xinhua report said “the two sides exchanged some views on a number of international issues”, though it did not mention a specific topic.
However, it did quote Yang as telling Tillerson that Beijing and Washington should strengthen pragmatic cooperation to further bilateral relations.
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Over the past week, the mounting evidence that Pyongyang was behind the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, Kim Jong-un’s half brother, in Malaysia, has further angered China, which had been protecting Jong-nam since he was exiled years ago.
Moreover, the diplomatic tussle resulting from the assassination will seriously sour economic and trade relations between Korea and Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia and Vietnam – the other major sources of trade for North Korea, other than China. Malaysia has reciprocal visa-free arrangements with North Korea. In this context, China’s ban on coal imports will be particularly biting if it is maintained.
Trump’s assertion that Beijing should bear sole responsibility for containing North Korea is simply wrong. Beijing’s efforts to push for the six-party talks, which also involve South Korea, Japan, and Russia, have largely failed, partly because North Korea has always sought direct dialogue with Washington.
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Now the ball is in Trump’s court. Analysts have long called for fresh thinking on how to contain North Korea, so Trump’s reputation for being unconventional might be just what’s needed.
Using North Korea as a bargaining chip, if it is done in the right way, may well bring the kind of pragmatic cooperation between Washington and Beijing that State Councillor Yang has advocated. ■
Wang Xiangwei is the former editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post. He is now based in Beijing as editorial adviser to the paper