On his part, Kerry said a diplomatic solution is very important, and that he wants to bring together all concerned parties for negotiations on the South China Sea issue.
Advertisement
China and America have had different views on how strong the response should be to North Korea, since the nuclear test.
Their comments follow a flurry of activity in Washington, including meetings between China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday, and with National Security Adviser Susan Rice on Wednesday afternoon.
Mr Kerry, in particular, pointed out that both sides have “yet to find that road” forward, but welcomed China’s “offer for dialogue because that is obviously the best way to resolve whatever tensions there are”.
The biggest obstacle to talks, it argues, is Washington’s stubborn insistence that it will not sit down with North Korea until the country takes steps towards denuclearization.
China will cut off its coal trade with North Korea starting March 1, in effect reducing bilateral trade levels by half, according to a report from a Chinese newspaper.
Beijing, however, fears that too much pressure could trigger the collapse of the pariah regime, creating a political and humanitarian crisis on its border and removing a buffer against USA troops now stationed in South Korea.
“It’s a substantive, long, full draft… which I hope will be adopted in the coming days”, Reuters quoted a senior council diplomat as saying.
“China, United States, and ASEAN countries have all committed to non-militarization”, Wang said.
Wang said a resolution could be passed in the “near future”.
Mr Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at CSIS, said: “Its (China’s) new high-frequency radar, like its 3,000m runways and missile deployments, is another piece of the puzzle towards China’s long-term goal of establishing de facto control over the sea and airspace throughout the nine dash line”.
South Korea and the United States are expected to launch a joint working group next week to discuss the deployment in the South Korean territory of a sophisticated USA missile defense system, Yonhap news agency reported Thursday citing a government source.
North Korea previously conducted three nuclear tests: in 2006, in 2009 and in 2013.
Advertisement
There are 20 North Korean entities and 12 individuals on the United Nations sanctions blacklist, which provides for an assets freeze and a global travel ban. It also mentioned that Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington late next month. “We have said that if we can get to denuclearisation, there’s no need to deploy THAAD”, Mr Kerry said.
