Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday that his nation will be forced to make the largest sacrifices to adhere to new U.N. sanctions against North Korea, as it is one of the few remaining nations that maintains any economic ties to the rogue communist state.
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to impose sanctions on North Korea for the communist regime’s continued ballistic missile launches and nuclear weapons program this weekend, a move that surprised some who expected China to veto the resolution.
“Owing to China’s traditional economic ties with North Korea, it will mainly be China paying the price for implementing the resolution,” a statement from Wang read, as reported by Reuters on Monday. “But in order to protect the international non-proliferation system and regional peace and stability, China will, as before, fully and strictly properly implement the entire contents of the relevant resolution.”
Reuters reported that Wang said the U.N. resolution also made clear that the six-party talks process, a “stalled dialogue mechanism with North Korea that also includes Russia and Japan,” should be resurrected.
Wang also said the new resolution showed China and the international community’s united opposition to North Korea’s aggression.
Wang described U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s recent remarks on North Korea as “positive.”
“We do not seek a regime change,” Tillerson said at a press conference on August 1. “We do not seek the collapse of the regime.”
“We do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula,” Tillerson said.
President Donald Trump praised the Security Council’s action and U.S. resolve.
“After many years of failure, countries are coming together to finally address the dangers posed by North Korea. We must be tough & decisive!” Trump tweeted.
After many years of failure,countries are coming together to finally address the dangers posed by North Korea. We must be tough & decisive!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 8, 2017
“What this is going to do is send a very strong message and a united message,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told NBC’s Today show on Tuesday.
Haley said Trump was keeping “all options on the table” for its dealings with North Korea.
During the Barack Obama administration, multi-nation talks with North Korea on its nuclear ambitions stalled in 2008, the Associated Press reported in April.
The Obama administration tried to resurrect the talks in 2012, but negotiations to provide food aid in exchange for a nuclear freeze failed.
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