China on Saturday called U.S. President Donald Trump “irresponsible” after the U.S. President cancelled his top diplomat’s trip to North Korea and suggested that Beijing was stalling efforts to disarm Pyongyang.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was due to make his fourth visit to the reclusive state next week for what he described as the next step towards the “final, fully verified denuclearisation of North Korea”. But Mr. Trump — facing a slew of domestic problems and independent reports that North Korea has done little to roll back its nuclear programme — vetoed the plan.
“Because of our much tougher trading stance with China, I do not believe they are helping with the process of denuclearisation as they once were”, Mr. Trump said on Friday.
‘Contrary to facts’
Beijing hit back at Mr. Trump’s “capricious” accusations and said it had lodged an official diplomatic complaint over the comments. “The U.S. statement is contrary to basic facts and is irresponsible. We are seriously concerned about this,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in a statement posted on the Ministry website. “All parties concerned should... show more sincerity and flexibility, instead of being capricious and putting the blame on others.” China and the U.S. are engaged in an escalating trade war, exchanging tit-for-tat tariffs on $100 billion worth of goods, with the most recent levies imposed on Thursday. A UN agency recently reported it had not seen any indication that nuclear activities in North Korea have stopped.
Mr. Trump said on Friday that Mr. Pompeo would still head to North Korea “in the near future”, saying this would likely occur when the U.S.-China trading relationship is “resolved”.
