U.S., China reaffirm commitment to pressure North Korea - State Department

[webfact]

U.S., China reaffirm commitment to pressure North Korea - State Department

 

FILE PHOTO - A flag is pictured outside the Permanent Mission of North Korea in Geneva, Switzerland, November 17, 2017. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi on Thursday reaffirmed their countries' commitment to exert pressure in Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons, the U.S. State Department said.

 

Yang was on a two-day visit to Washington that began on Thursday. His talks were also expected to cover the sensitive U.S.-China economic relationship after recent tit-for-tat actions that have raised fears of a trade war between the world's two largest economies.

 

"Both sides reaffirmed President Trump's and President Xi's commitment to keep up pressure on North Korea's illegal weapons and nuclear programs," State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a news briefing.

 

Nauert said Tillerson and Yang “agreed on the importance of continuing a constructive and productive relationship aimed at cooperation on mutual challenges and addressing our differences forthrightly."

 

"They discussed the need to achieve a fair and reciprocal bilateral economic relationship and shared approaches to stemming the flow of deadly narcotics," Nauert said, adding that the two looked forward to continuing discussions at an annual diplomatic and security dialogue in the first half of 2018.

 

Yang said at the start of his meeting with Tillerson that he would seek to "push forward our very important relationship."

 

Beijing and Washington share concerns about North Korea's development of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States.

China has backed successive rounds of U.N. sanctions on North Korea, but has been wary of U.S. efforts to toughen these further and has been accused by U.S. officials of not fully implementing existing U.N. steps.

 

"We expect, we hope that China will do more, because we know they can do more in terms of adhering to U.N. Security Council resolutions," Nauert said.

 

The latest trade data shows China's massive goods surplus with the United States narrowed last month, but not to the extent necessary to appease Washington.

 

"Our president has made very clear our concerns about trade imbalances," Nauert said.

 

U.S. President Donald Trump slapped steep tariffs on imported washing machines and solar panels last month and is considering recommendations on import restrictions for steel and aluminium or other trade sanctions against China over its intellectual property practices.

 

In response, at the weekend, China's commerce ministry launched an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probe into imports of sorghum from the United States.

 

Tillerson upset Beijing last week when he accused China of behaving like an imperial power in Latin America.

 

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said earlier on Thursday that Beijing hoped North and South Korea could maintain the momentum of their current rapprochement and gradually open the door to peace.

 

Washington has welcomed a resumption of intra-Korean talks that has led to North Korea's participation in the Winter Olympics that open in South Korea on Friday.

 

But both the United States and North Korea have said they have no plans to meet during the Olympics, dampening hopes that the Games will help ease tensions.

 

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Arshad Mohammed, Mohammad Zargham and Katanga Johnson; Editing by Eric Beech and Susan Thomas)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-02-09

[smedly]

I said a long time ago that N. Korea was being assisted with pretty much everything it does, weapons  - technology - Nuclear Science - Nuclear materials - weapons programs - financial - breaking sanctions  etc etc

 

It is not China although I do believe they assist them to a small extent

 

Can anyone guess who ? (I suppose you could trawl through my previous posts for the answer)

 

and I am 100% sure I am right about this (it is of course just my opinion)

 

 

 

 

 

Russia and the nasty little piece of work Putin

 

anyone that underestimates this power hungry midget who has visions of greatness needs to think again, he is a smart devious man but for now has been knocked off his path because he can't quite get the measure of DT which as it turns out could be a good thing. 

[isaanbanhou]

9 minutes ago, smedly said:

I said a long time ago that N. Korea was being assisted with pretty much everything it does, weapons  - technology - Nuclear Science - Nuclear materials - weapons programs - financial - breaking sanctions  etc etc

 

It is not China although I do believe they assist them to a small extent

 

Can anyone guess who ? (I suppose you could trawl through my previous posts for the answer)

 

and I am 100% sure I am right about this (it is of course just my opinion)

 

 

 

 

 

Russia and the nasty little piece of work Putin

 

anyone that underestimates this power hungry midget who has visions of greatness needs to think again, he is a smart devious man but for now has been knocked off his path because he can't quite get the measure of DT which as it turns out could be a good thing. 

he can't quite get the measure of DT   

 

HaHa, Putin know's exactly how big Trump's is

 

 

 

[Grouse]

I think encouraging NK and SK toward reunification would be a great idea. Maybe could be done with less bloodshed if the Americans pulled back to Okinawa and Guam? Just think, NKs huge conventional artillery becomes redundant at a stroke! One small step for man but a major kick in the Boll**ks for the American military-industrial complex! Maybe they could retool to make washing machines ?

[Scott]

Off-topic post removed.  

[Air Smiles]

22 hours ago, smedly said:

Can anyone guess who ? (I suppose you could trawl through my previous posts for the answer)

 

and I am 100% sure I am right about this (it is of course just my opinion)

 

 

 

 

 

Russia and the nasty little piece of work Putin

 

anyone that underestimates this power hungry midget who has visions of greatness needs to think again, he is a smart devious man but for now has been knocked off his path because he can't quite get the measure of DT which as it turns out could be a good thing. 

 

The article doesn't mention Putin or Russia.

 

Commies under the bed?