Dodging blame, China urges US to stop hurling threats at North Korea
10 Aug 2017 4:59 PM GMT
In the eyes of many Americans, China bears a huge responsibility for the North Korea crisis for failing to rein its aggressive and volatile ally in Pyongyang.
But in Beijing, the story is told very differently. Here, a large slice of the blame goes to Washington for its consistently hostile attitude towards North Korea, which has only encouraged the regime to invest in and accelerate its nuclear weapons program.
China's narrative about the reckless US approach was only reinforced this week when President Trump threatened to respond to further threats from North Korea by unleashing "fire and fury like the world has never seen," and Pyongyang responded by threatening to strike the US territory of Guam in the Western Pacific with ballistic missiles.
It gave China the perfect platform to project itself as the voice of reason: especially as it had just agreed to join the world in stiffening sanctions against the North
Korean regime.
"China is disappointed." said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University of China in Beijing. "China has just made a compromise, but the US president is messing things up."
In an editorial on Tuesday, state-run China Daily said that instead of "hurling threats," the governments of the United States and North Korea should talk.
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