South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
01 October 2017
- RSIS
- Media Mentions
- China Douses Diplomatic Fires in Eventful Year – but One Still Smoulders
China Douses Diplomatic Fires in Eventful Year – but One Still Smoulders
When U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson touched down in China last week, there was really only one burning question on Beijing’s diplomatic minds: what to do about North Korea’s “rocket man” Kim Jong-un.
Relations between the world’s two biggest economies appeared to improve with a summit in Florida in April between Trump and Xi – until Pyongyang launched a series of missile and nuclear tests.
Now China and the U.S. are locked in a debate over who should be responsible for contacting Kim.
Washington insists Beijing should do more to pressure Kim to give up his nuclear and missile ambitions, while China says the U.S. and Pyongyang should sit down and talk.
“The North Korea problem is currently China’s biggest diplomatic challenge and will stay so in the foreseeable future,” said Li Mingjiang, associate professor at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
“It has ramped up the complexity of the cooperative but competitive relationship between China and the U.S.”
IDSS / Online / Print
Last updated on 03/10/2017
