CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/NORTH KOREA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “China warned on Friday [4-14-17] that tensions on the Korean Peninsula could run out of control, after North Korea said it could test a nuclear weapon whenever its top leader, Kim Jong-un, decided, and as an American naval group neared the peninsula in a show of resolve.
‘The United States and South Korea and North Korea are engaging in tit for tat, with swords drawn and bows bent, and there have been storm clouds gathering,’ China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, said in Beijing, according to Xinhua, the state news agency.
‘We urge all sides to no longer engage in mutual provocation and threats, whether through words or deeds, and don’t push the situation to the point where it can’t be turned around and gets out of hand,’ Mr. Wang said after meeting with his visiting French counterpart, Jean-Marc Ayrault, according to Xinhua.
‘No matter who it is, if they let war break out on the peninsula, they must shoulder that historical culpability and pay the corresponding price for this,’ Mr. Wang said.”
-Gerry Mullany and Chris Buckley, “China Warns of ‘Storm Clouds Gathering’ in U.S.-North Korea Standoff,” The New York Times online, April 12, 2017