Donald Trump has lashed out at his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, for going against unanimous sanctions endorsed against North Korea by the United Nations (UN) and other global governmental bodies.
The American president rained his usual sentimental rhetoric on Thursday after news surfaced in the media that China has been caught executing a secret oil deal with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Chinese ships allegedly transferred oil to North Korean vessels at sea, contrary to regulations from the U.N. sanctions against the dictatorship for its nuclear weapons program.
Mr. Trump said on Twitter that China had been “Caught RED HANDED,” and expressed his disappointment that Xi’s government is allowing oil to go into North Korea.”
The 71-year-old business mogul continued, “There will never be a friendly solution to the North Korea problem if this continues to happen!”
Mr. Trump, however, did not cite his source of information.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/946416486054285314
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“Do you want to do it in five years, when they have warheads all over the place, every one of them pointing to New York City, to Washington to all our allies?” Trump asked Russert in an interview conducted some years back when the issue of N. Korea’s acquisition of nuclear warheads first became a problem to the world. “Is that when you want to do it? You better do it now.”
The recent betrayal from China goes against Trump’s trust and reliance on Xi, who he expects to play a major role in exerting pressure on Kim Jong Un’s interest in manufacturing nuclear warheads.
“I’ve been saying it for a long, long time,” Trump sad on Thursday, in warning against North Korea having nuclear weapons.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/946460939578167296
Trump has blown hot and cold on China’s efforts on North Korea, sometimes praising Xi’s government for its efforts on the seeming insurmountable problem and berating him for indifference and selfishness at other times.
On 15 December the audacious U.S. president said Russia, another big ally and trading partner with the DPRK, has failed to join China in the fight against North Korea’s supreme leadership, which has fared through the odds posed by an increased sanction, to perfect a nuclear-tipped missile which is believed to have the capabilities of striking anywhere in the United States mainland.
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“China is helping in a great way, but Russia is not helping at all. We’d like to have Vladimir Putin’s help — it is very important,” Trump told reporters after a phone conversation with the Russian leader.
According to a report from The Associated Press following Thursday’s tweet from the Republican President, a South Korean news outlet Chosun Ilbo cited unidentified sources in its government circles as saying that U.S. reconnaissance satellites spotted Chinese ships transferring oil to North Korean vessels about 30 times since October in seas off China.
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The news report was picked up by some U.S. media outlets, including Fox News although China’s foreign ministry defended its enforcement of U.N. sanctions against North Korea, saying through its ministry spokeswoman on Wednesday that there’s no authentic information about the latest report.
The Chinese diplomat stressed that her country “has strictly enforced trade restrictions.”
U.S. Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, urged Beijing through a commentary on Thursday to take decisive economic leverage on Pyongyang.
Sanctions has shown noticeable impact on North Korea – Rex Tillerson
Rex wrote on in the New York Times, “China has applied certain import bans and sanctions, but it could and should do more.”
Xi Jinping’s government accounts for the vast majority of North Korea’s external trade and oil supplies.
Barely two weeks ago, Trump showered encomiums on China for its role in the U.S.-led pressure campaign against Pyongyang, including support for three U.N. Security Council resolutions this year over the North’s nuclear and missile tests. The latest of those three resolutions was endorsed last week.
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