Trump talks North Korea threat in calls with China, Japan leaders

[snoop1130]

Trump talks North Korea threat in calls with China, Japan leaders

By Jeff Mason

 

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Celebrate Freedom Rally in Washington, U.S. July 1, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

 

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (Reuters) - The threat posed by North Korea was a key topic in phone calls between U.S. President Donald Trump and the leaders of China and Japan, along with trade issues, the White House said on Sunday.

 

Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ahead of expected meetings with the leaders of Asia's two biggest economies at a Group of 20 nations summit in Germany later this week.

 

"Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to a denuclearized Korean Peninsula," the White House said of Trump's call with Xi from his resort property in Bridgewater, New Jersey, where he is spending a long weekend.

 

"President Trump reiterated his determination to seek more balanced trade relations with America’s trading partners," it added.

 

Trump has become increasingly frustrated with China's inability to rein in North Korea, and the reference to trade was an indication the one-time New York businessman may be ready to return to his tougher-talking ways on business with Beijing after holding back in hopes it would put more pressure on Pyongyang.

 

Trump and Xi discussed the "peace and stability of the Korean peninsula", China's Foreign Ministry said, without elaborating.

 

Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang later told a daily briefing that the United States was "very clear" about China's position on North Korea. Geng did not elaborate on what Xi told Trump about North Korea.

 

"Negative factors" have affected Sino-U.S. relations, and China has already expressed its position to the United States, Xi told Trump, according to a read-out of a telephone call between the leaders carried by the ministry.

 

ONE CHINA POLICY

 

The ministry said Trump told Xi the U.S. government would continue to follow a "one China" policy, under which Washington acknowledges the Chinese position that there is only one China and Taiwan is part of it, and that this position had not changed.

 

China pays great attention to that reiteration and hopes the United States can "appropriately handle" the Taiwan issue, Xi told Trump, according to the ministry.

 

On Thursday, the United States targeted a Chinese bank and sanctioned Chinese individuals and a firm for dealing with North Korea and approved a $1.42 billion arms deal with Taiwan - decisions that angered Beijing.

 

And on Sunday a U.S. warship sailed near a disputed island in the South China Sea claimed by China, drawing a rebuke from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

Trump’s separate conversations with the two Asian leaders followed White House talks with South Korea’s new president, Moon Jae-in, last week in which the U.S. leader called on Asian powers to implement sanctions and demand North Korea "choose a better path and do it quickly."

 

TRILATERAL SUMMIT

 

Trump and Abe, in their call, reiterated their commitment to increase pressure on North Korea.

 

"They reaffirmed that the United States-Japan Alliance stands ready to defend and respond to any threat or action taken by North Korea," the White House said in a statement.

 

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference the two countries and South Korea will have a trilateral summit at the G20 meeting, but he didn’t want to speculate on what might be said there.

 

“It’s important for these three nations to show their strong unity and cooperation both within and without," Suga said. "Things such as strengthening pressure on North Korea or urging China to fulfill even more of a role. Things like this have been agreed on before as well.”

 

Trump, who held talks with Abe earlier this year at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, has forged a united front with the Japanese leader on the need to exert pressure on North Korea to curb its nuclear and missile development.

 

During and after a Florida summit with Xi in April at Mar-a-Lago, Trump praised his Chinese counterpart for agreeing to work on the North Korea issue and has held back on attacking Chinese trade practices he railed against during the presidential campaign.

 

But Trump has recently suggested he was running out of patience with China's modest steps to pressure North Korea, which is working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States, and has been considering moving ahead on trade actions.

 

Trump has been weighing new quotas or tariffs on steel imports for national security reasons and plans to discuss his concerns at the G20. Washington sees excess global production capacity, particularly in China, administration officials say.

 

(Reporting by Jeff Mason in New Jersey, Matt Spetalnick in Washington, Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Takaya Yamaguchi in Tokyo; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-7-3

[anon4546543]

Trump is all bluster. His Republican Party is all bluster, and they still worship him because bluster, eroding any rights of citizens,  increasing the burden on middle class and the poor is what the US is all about now. But the world, not to mention China and Nth Korea know that now.

 This guy needs a toilet roll under his chin to mop up excreta. God help America, Lets make America Grate again. 

[Stargeezr]

If China wants to gain access to the disputed ialands, it had better tame North Korea.    If North Korea ever gets nuclear weapons developed small enough to transport on its missles, the world had better blame China solely for that as well.  Wake up China you

cannot have it both ways.

Geezer

[Kiwiken]

3 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

If China wants to gain access to the disputed ialands, it had better tame North Korea.    If North Korea ever gets nuclear weapons developed small enough to transport on its missles, the world had better blame China solely for that as well.  Wake up China you cannot have it both ways.

Geezer

China does not have to gain access to the disputed Islands. They occupy them. The South China sea is within range of Chinese Land based forces and they have airfields on Several of the Islands.Every bluff the USA has made has been called by the Chinese. They have taken control of the area and nothing has stopped or intimidated them.

As for the North koreans I am sure the Chinese have a better eye on them than they let on. I think should NK have production of missiles threatening other countries that you will see a Regime change in NK.

China is playing a very strategic game. Make your enemy watch your left hand while the right hand moves the cup.

[Credo]

The situation with NK is not one that is easily resolved.   China either can't or won't reign them in and given the NK attitude toward pretty much everyone, I would guess that China's influence is limited.   Any type of action will have to be initiated by the neighboring countries.  NK has one of the world's largest standing armies and they are going to reign hell-fire and damnation on SK.   Seoul is within striking distance and with a population of 10 million people that's one helluva lot of people in harms way.   Attempting to move them prior to a strike is going to send alarm bells ringing in the North.   

 

Nuclear strikes could neutralize the nuclear threat, but hardly the conventional threat.   The Korean peninsula would be a mess of epic proportions with refugees fleeing in every direction and it would be years of reconstruction.   

 

The same with the Philippines.   The reefs are of little importance to the US.   It would be up to the Philippines to decide on any action.   

 

 

[ilostmypassword]

6 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

If China wants to gain access to the disputed ialands, it had better tame North Korea.    If North Korea ever gets nuclear weapons developed small enough to transport on its missles, the world had better blame China solely for that as well.  Wake up China you

cannot have it both ways.

Geezer

I didn't know that the islands were in the USA's gift to give away. Thanks for the update.

[tonray]

Trump may do something incredibly stupid and get a whole bunch of South Koreans killed and then he'll walk away just like after his bankruptcies. Oh well.. We tried.. Sorry you lost everything and I'm still rich. 

[ilostmypassword]

3 hours ago, Credo said:

The situation with NK is not one that is easily resolved.   China either can't or won't reign them in and given the NK attitude toward pretty much everyone, I would guess that China's influence is limited.   Any type of action will have to be initiated by the neighboring countries.  NK has one of the world's largest standing armies and they are going to reign hell-fire and damnation on SK.   Seoul is within striking distance and with a population of 10 million people that's one helluva lot of people in harms way.   Attempting to move them prior to a strike is going to send alarm bells ringing in the North.   

 

Nuclear strikes could neutralize the nuclear threat, but hardly the conventional threat.   The Korean peninsula would be a mess of epic proportions with refugees fleeing in every direction and it would be years of reconstruction.   

 

The same with the Philippines.   The reefs are of little importance to the US.   It would be up to the Philippines to decide on any action.   

 

 

I don't think it's so much that China's influence or rather potential for influence is limited. I think, rather, that they are playing a long game. North Korea is reforming its economy. As it grows more prosperous, or, at least, if it grows more prosperou, the Chinese believe it will have less reason to be belligerent and so not so much of a threat.

[anon4546543]

13 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

I don't think it's so much that China's influence or rather potential for influence is limited. I think, rather, that they are playing a long game. North Korea is reforming its economy. As it grows more prosperous, or, at least, if it grows more prosperou, the Chinese believe it will have less reason to be belligerent and so not so much of a threat.

I find it amazing that the US is screaming for China to resolve the North Korean "problem" when it was the US that created the "problem". China has always thought in terms of decades and centuries. Western politics is about popular opinion today.

 It does seem that with help from China and Russia and better weather outcomes, the Nth Korean subsistence economy is improving. 

The millions of deaths a few years ago is receding.   Other than bluster and secretive deals, Nth Korea has never directly posed a threat to any country. (Unlike other western countries) I believe China has its finger on the pulse more than any other country, China does not want a nuclear war on its border and  some country other than Pakistan helped Nth Korea to develop the military nuclear capability. China uses Nth Korea as a bargaining tool.

If US butted out and went home, the Korean problem would dissolve. But US wont do that, it needs to threaten not only  

[Credo]

20 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

I don't think it's so much that China's influence or rather potential for influence is limited. I think, rather, that they are playing a long game. North Korea is reforming its economy. As it grows more prosperous, or, at least, if it grows more prosperou, the Chinese believe it will have less reason to be belligerent and so not so much of a threat.

You could be right, but as it is now, there is more effort and money going into military and nuclear development than in economic development.   

[ilostmypassword]

3 minutes ago, Credo said:

You could be right, but as it is now, there is more effort and money going into military and nuclear development than in economic development.   

I don't really know since North Korea is so obsessively secretive about its budget.  But the economy is improving as the market becomes freer.

[simple1]

China-Russia diplomatic double act exposes Trump's crudeness

 

The leaders of China and Russia have vowed to work together to peacefully defuse the deepening crisis over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes – a diplomatic double act that contrasts sharply with Donald Trump’s crude threats and pressure tactics.

The joint declaration reflected a broader, ongoing strategic Sino-Russian alignment that has passed largely unremarked in the west. It has been encouraged by Trump’s often erratic, unfocused behaviour, and the resulting opportunities and dangers arising from weakened American global leadership.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/04/china-russia-diplomatic-double-act-exposes-trumps-crudeness?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+AUS+v1+-+AUS+morning+mail+callout&utm_term=233634&subid=19059915&CMP=ema_632

[tonray]

14 minutes ago, simple1 said:

China-Russia diplomatic double act exposes Trump's crudeness

 

The leaders of China and Russia have vowed to work together to peacefully defuse the deepening crisis over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes – a diplomatic double act that contrasts sharply with Donald Trump’s crude threats and pressure tactics.

The joint declaration reflected a broader, ongoing strategic Sino-Russian alignment that has passed largely unremarked in the west. It has been encouraged by Trump’s often erratic, unfocused behaviour, and the resulting opportunities and dangers arising from weakened American global leadership.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/04/china-russia-diplomatic-double-act-exposes-trumps-crudeness?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+AUS+v1+-+AUS+morning+mail+callout&utm_term=233634&subid=19059915&CMP=ema_632

Putin playing Trump like the strings on a violin. China playing Putin by pretending to go along while hoping to limit Russian influence on the peninsula. And Trump playing the fool, as usual.