Beijing rejects link between North Korea and China-US trade
Chinese minister says the two issues should discussed separately after American criticism of Beijing’s efforts to rein in Pyongyang’s missile programme
There is no link between North Korea’s nuclear programme and China-US trade, a senior Chinese official said on Monday, after US President Donald Trump said China had done nothing for the United States to rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.
Trump, in tweets on Saturday, said America’s “foolish past leaders” had allowed China to make billions of dollars a year in trade and that he was disappointed in Beijing for not solving the problem.
Trump made the comments after North Korea said it had conducted another successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile that proved its ability to strike the US mainland.
Chinese Vice-Commerce Minister Qian Keming, asked about Trump’s tweets at a news conference in Beijing, said there was no link between North Korea and China-US trade.
“We think the North Korea nuclear issue and China-US trade are issues that are in two completely different domains. They aren’t related. They should not be discussed together,” Qian said.
