While the U.N. Security Council is considering tougher sanctions against North Korea following last week’s nuclear test, a Chinese expert claimed on Wednesday that the sanctions should not “go too far” because such move could threaten regional stability.
Defying calls from the international community and its key ally, China, North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test last Wednesday. The role of China, which keeps North Korea’s moribund economy afloat, is important in ensuring the effectiveness of tougher sanctions against the isolated North.
However, many analysts believe that China’s Communist Party leadership won’t exert enough leverage on North Korea because a sudden collapse of the North’s regime could threaten China’s own security interests.
South Korea’s chief nuclear envoy Hwang Joon-kook will visit Beijing on Thursday and hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei to seek China’s cooperation in imposing tougher sanctions against North Korea.
Dong Manyuan, vice president of the China Institute of International Studies, told the state-run China Daily newspaper that South Korea “is making efforts to forge a U.N. Security Council resolution to make DPRK face consequences commensurate to the nuclear test.”
Dong told the newspaper that he is “afraid that the proposed sanctions may be too strict, as some countries may have added their ‘self-interest’ to them.”
“The sanctions should not go too far,” Dong said. “The threat of strict sanctions, enhanced military deployment and suspicions over the bomb’s yield will only ratchet up tensions and provoke Pyongyang to add to their bomb’s yield and carry out ballistic missile experiments.”
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has urged China to end “business as usual” with North Korea, and South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se called for China to join in sending a “strong message” to the North.
So far, China’s responses to such calls have been lukewarm.
When asked about calls for tougher sanctions against North Korea, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei replied on Tuesday, “In dealing with the current situation, we should bear in mind the goals of promoting the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, preventing nuclear proliferation, and maintaining the peace and stability of Northeast Asia.”
“What is imperative is for all parties to bring the Korean nuclear issue back to the track of dialogue and negotiations, jointly promote denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and maintain the peace and stability of Northeast Asia,” Hong said. (Yonhap)
