China and US agree to keep communication open over North Korean missile tests and escalating tension on peninsula
According to the Chinese readout, Pak responded by saying that “the US values China’s role in addressing the peninsula issue and hopes to communicate and cooperate with China in this regard”.
The meeting on Thursday came amid a tentative detente between China and the US following a summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden in San Francisco in November during which the two leaders exchanged views on key regional and global challenges, including the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
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It also came as tensions escalated between the two Koreas.
This month, North Korea’s parliament voted to scrap all economic cooperation agreements with South Korea.
Last week, its leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the testing of new Padasuri-6 surface-to-sea missiles and warned that his country would take a more aggressive military posture in disputed waters near the South Korean border islands of Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong.
Washington has repeatedly called on China – a major ally and economic lifeline to North Korea – to use its leverage to reign in Pyongyang’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and persuade Kim to return to nuclear negotiations.
However, Beijing insisted that the lack of trust between Washington and Pyongyang was the “crux” of the issue and that the US should take responsibility.
To break diplomatic isolation from the US and its allies, North Korea has sought closer ties with China and Russia.
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According to the Chinese foreign ministry, the two sides agreed to “strengthen strategic communication at all levels, deepen traditional friendship and practical cooperation, and closely coordinate and cooperate at the multilateral level, to promote the sustained development” between the two neighbours, which would mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic ties this year.
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Meanwhile, Russian President Putin has accepted an invitation to visit North Korea that was extended during Kim’s six-day visit to Russia in September.
In an interview last week, Pak, a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst and a Korean American scholar who was picked by Biden in 2021, said in an interview that China should condemn North Korea’s “deepening cooperation” with Russia.
“The DPRK issue is China’s problem, as well,” Pak said, according to Bloomberg. “It’s not just our problem. China has a role to play and it has influence.”