China resists moves to sanction N. Korea
UN: China is resisting US-led efforts to order new sanctions against
North Korea over its rocket launch and the UN Security Council could
take weeks to decide a formal move, diplomats said.
Gary Locke, US ambassador to Beijing, said Monday that China and the
United States are deeply divided over the best way to tackle North
Korea's flouting of Security Council resolutions on using ballistic
technology.
The 15-member Security Council, including China, condemned the rocket
launch within hours after it took place Wednesday. Beijing has since
signaled, however, that it will not add new sanctions to measures
ordered after the North staged nuclear weapon tests in 2006 and 2009.
“There has been no serious discussion of any kind of resolution on
North Korea,” said one council diplomat. “With China in their current
mood it will take weeks to get anything done and there is no guarantee
that they will agree new measures,” added a second envoy. Both spoke on
condition of anonymity.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice demanded last week
that the Security Council make it clear that North Korea will face
“consequences” for its actions.
Rice and China's UN envoy Li Baodong clashed during closed Security
Council negotiations on a statement released Wednesday, diplomats said.
The following day, China's Foreign Ministry said any Security Council
response had to be “prudent, appropriate and conducive to peace and
stability on the Korean peninsula and avoid the escalation of the
situation.” As one of the five permanent members of the council, China
could block any resolution needed to order new sanctions.
But diplomats said new firms and entities could be added to the
current sanctions list without a resolution. The UN Security Council has
also yet to put any North Korean individuals on its sanctions list.
“There are ways to increase pressure, but clearly it would be better
for the council to be united with China behind any action taken,” said
the council diplomat. Locke told the Asia Society in New York that the
United States is “really engaging diplomatically with China and other
members of the United Nations Security Council on tougher resolutions,
possibly sanctions against North Korea.” “The Chinese believe that we
need to give North Korea a chance, that we need to help them develop
economically,” said Locke, who has been US ambassador in Beijing for 16
months.
China wants to restart six-country talks on North Korea's nuclear
weapons “and see if we cannot encourage better behavior from North
Korea, as opposed to imposing sanctions now and trying to coerce North
Korea into the fold and abiding by their international obligations.”
Locke called it “a difference of opinion of strategy” between the United
States and China.
AFP
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