U.S. and China divided on North Korea sanctions

Chinese officials say they are willing to back a harshly worded U.N. resolution condemning North Korea’s latest nuclear test, but a visit by Secretary of State John F. Kerry to Beijing Wednesday revealed the Obama administration has so far failed to win Beijing’s support for ramped-up economic sanctions against Pyongyang.

After nearly five hours of talks with Mr. Kerry, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi offered only vague platitudes to the possibility of sanctions — suggesting there’s significant daylight between the U.S. and China on the issue.

China is seen as the isolated North’s economic lifeline and the one power in the region with any influence on North Korean strongman Kim Jong-un, but getting Beijing to use its leverage has proven a frustrating exercise for U.S. officials.

“Sanctions are not an end in themselves,” said Mr. Wang, who told reporters that while Beijing is committed to achieving “denuclearization” on the Korean Peninsula, Chinese officials say they believe the path ahead must be rooted in “negotiation and consultation.”

While they appeared together for a joint news conference in Beijing, Mr. Wang’s comments stood in clear contrast to those of Mr. Kerry, who lamented that there’s “been a lot of talk,” and the time has come for “actions that can bring North Korea back to the table.”

“There is a goal in sanctions,” he said. “It’s to get to the negotiations.”

On a separate front, the two sides traded barbs on the issue of Chinese military muscle-flexing in the region, with Mr. Kerry calling on China to halt land reclamation and construction of airstrips in disputed areas of the South China Sea.

For his own part, Mr. Wang denied that China is engaged in anything other than protecting its territorial sovereignty and rejected assertions by the U.S. and others that Beijing is uninterested in peaceful resolutions to the disputes.

Tensions in the region have been especially high since Beijing transformed seven South China Sea reefs into islands, where it is now constructing runways and facilities that rival claimants say can be used militarily and strengthen China’s de facto sovereignty claims.

In response, the U.S. sent a guided-missile destroyer close to one of the Chinese-built islands, called Subi Reef, in October, sparking warnings from China. U.S. officials vowed to continue maneuvers to uphold the principle of freedom of navigation and overflight.

North Korea’s claim earlier this month to have test-detonated a miniaturized hydrogen bomb sent tensions soaring in the region, but also exposed the longstanding divide between China and the U.S. about the best way to restrain Pyongyang.

While there has been confusion over exactly what the North Koreans tested, analysts generally agree the action amounted to Pyongyang’s fourth significant nuclear test since 2006.

Balking at sanctions

China has publicly condemned the test, but Beijing — which is Pyongyang’s chief trading partner and a key source of economic assistance — has so far balked at imposing harsh sanctions.

Mr. Wang said Wednesday that a new U.N. Security Council Resolution should “not provoke new tension in the situation, still less destabilize the Korean Peninsula.” He also rejected U.S. complaints that China is not doing enough with the leverage it has on North Korea.

China has consistently opposed Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program while supporting a diplomatic resolution to the matter, he argued. “For many years … we have delivered on our obligation.”

But frustration toward such assertions has grown recently among Obama administration officials, who have come under increasing pressure from critics to do more in response to the North Korean threat.

Mr. Kerry’s trip to Beijing this week was preceded by reports that the administration is pushing behind the scenes on China and other North Asian nations to embrace an aggressive sanctions regime that would even ban all oil exports to North Korea.

According to a report by Japan’s Kyodo News, U.S. officials have also proposed a ban on mineral resource imports from North Korea and a rejection of flights by Air Koryo — Pyongyang’s state airline — over China and other countries.

While the Obama administration has steered clear of such specifics, Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., called on the Security Council to impose “a tough, comprehensive and credible package of new sanctions” to protest the North’s Jan. 6 nuclear test.

Mr. Power told reporters on Wednesday that countries “need to accelerate progress” on the text of a U.N. resolution.

But Mr. Kerry appeared to be struggling to make headway on the issue in Beijing.

“It’s good to agree on the goal. But it’s not enough to agree on the goal,” the secretary of state said after his meeting with Mr. Wang. “North Korea poses an overt threat — a declared threat — to the world, and it has stated its intention to develop a thermonuclear weapon.”

Mr. Kerry pointed to last summer’s nuclear accord with Iran as a model, asserting that Iranian officials may never have come to the negotiating table had it not been for painful international economic sanctions.

“All nations, particularly those who seek a global leadership role or have a global leadership role, have a responsibility to deal with this threat,” Mr. Kerry said, referring to China.

While the secretary of state pushed a similar message during a meeting later on Wednesday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, he took a more conciliatory posture.

⦁ This article is based in part on wire service reports.