The US and China have reached an agreement on the need for a “strong” resolution against North Korea to check its nuclear ambitions.
US Secretary of State, John Kerry, met with the Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Yi, in an attempt to persuade Beijing to rein in North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
The visit follows North Korea’s claim that it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb earlier this month.
Mr Kerry told reporters that Pyongyang was “a major challenge to global security”.
China is North Korea’s main diplomatic and economic ally, but it has condemned Pyongyang’s nuclear test.
Limiting Trade Of Goods
Mr Kerry also plans to discuss US concerns about China’s activities in the disputed South China Sea, and the tightening of political space for civil society in China.
The BBC reports that after talks with Wang Yi, Mr Kerry said that both sides agreed on the need for a “strong” resolution against North Korea.
He also said that limiting the trade of goods and services across China’s border with North Korea was one potential measure.
However, Mr Wang said that while China supported the need for a new resolution, it “should not provoke new tension in the situation, still less destabilise the Korean peninsula”.
“Sanctions are not an end in themselves,” he added.
China is Pyongyang’s biggest trading partner, and major ally – although relations have cooled since Kim Jong-un succeeded his father.
Nonetheless, experts said that China is wary of destabilising North Korea, fearing that millions of North Korean refugees could pour across China’s borders if the regime collapsed.
