North Korea tension encouraging 'good unity' between US and China
North Korea’s latest outburst of nuclear and military threats has given the US a rare opportunity to build bridges with China.
The architect of the administration’s Asia policy described a subtle change in Chinese thinking as a result of Pyongyang’s recent nuclear tests, rocket launches and abandonment of the armistice that ended the 1950-53 war with South Korea.
Pyongyang has taken similar actions in the past, prompting Washington to increase military readiness in the region to soothe allies South Korea and Japan.
But in an unusual rebuke this week, Beijing called North Korea’s moves “regrettable” – amounting to a slap from the country’s strongest economic and diplomatic supporter.
“They, I think, recognise that the actions that North Korea has taken in recent months and years are in fact antithetical to their own national security interests,” former Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said.
“There is a subtle shift in Chinese foreign policy” toward North Korea, said Mr Campbell, who retired in February as the administration’s top diplomat in East Asia and the Pacific region.
“I think that they have succeeded in undermining trust and confidence in Beijing.”
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland described “good unity” between the US and China in responding to North Korea.
“The issue here is to continue to recognise that the threats we share are common, and the approaches are more likely to be more effective if we can work well together,” she said.
President Barack Obama recently called China’s new president, Xi Jinping, as part of an effort to brief the Chinese about US plans to take steps to deter the threats coming from the North, The New York Times reported last night.
For now, the crisis has given new importance to the White House’s decision to bolster US economic and security in the region that for years was sidelined as a priority by war and terrorism in the Middle East and North Africa.
North Korea has made an almost daily string of threats toward the US, South Korea and Japan and moved a missile with “considerable range” to its east coast, South Korea’s defence minister said on Thursday.
But he stressed the missile was not capable of reaching the US, and officials in Seoul and Washington agree there are no signs that Pyongyang is preparing for a full-scale conflict.
Last year, North Korea launched two long-range rockets – it claims they were satellites, but they were widely believed to be missiles – and in February announced it conducted an underground nuclear test.
Last month, the country declared its 1953 armistice with South Korea void. And this week, Pyongyang said it would restart a shuttered nuclear reactor and increase production of atomic weapons material.
Much of this is seen as an effort to strengthen loyalty among citizens and the military for North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong Un. But US and UN sanctions against Pyongyang after the February nuclear test fuelled tensions and began the unusually high level of threats.
North Korea’s anger is also a response to annual US-South Korean military drills that anger the North.
The ongoing drills have shown a conspicuous display of firepower, including flying US bombers and fighter jets in recent weeks over South Korea and off the Korean peninsula’s coast, where a US missile-defence ship has been deployed.
