CHINA/FOREIGN POLICY/NORTH KOREA: “To many Americans, China bears a huge responsibility for the North Korea crisis because of its failure to rein in its volatile ally in Pyongyang.
But in Beijing, the view is different. Here, a large slice of the blame goes to Washington, because of its consistently hostile attitude toward North Korea — a stance that China argues has only encouraged the regime to accelerate its nuclear weapons program.
China’s narrative about U.S. recklessness was 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 threatened in turn to strike the U.S. territory of Guam in the Western Pacific with ballistic missiles.
Trump’s rhetoric 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 North Korea.
‘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 U.S. president is messing things up.’
In an editorial Tuesday, the state-run China Daily said that instead of ‘hurling threats,’ the United States and North Korea should talk.”
-Simon Denyer, “Dodging blame, China urges U.S. to stop hurling threats at North Korea,” The Washington Post online, Aug. 10, 2017 09:39am