International
China vs North Korea: Beijing hits back and orders CLOSURE of Kim Jong-Un’s firms in China
NORTH Korean companies in China have been instructed
to cease doing business and leave by January in a direct snub to Kim
Jong-un.
Now,
the Chinese commerce ministry said the companies, including joint
ventures with Chinese firms, have 120 days to close from the date the
United Nations resolution was adopted, September 11. The
announcement comes days after China confirmed it will hit North Korea
with UN sanctions: a limit on exports of refined petroleum products to
North Korea starting October 1 and a ban on textiles from its neighbor.
China’s application of UN sanctions is particularly biting for North Korea.
Beijing is Pyongyang’s main ally and trading partner, responsible for around 90 per cent of the hermit nation’s commerce. The United States has pressed China to use its economic leverage to strong arm North Korea into giving up its nuclear ambitions. US
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit Beijing this weekend for
talks with China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi, and Foreign Minister Wang
Yi. Mr Tillerson will discuss the North Korean nuclear
tensions, trade issues and Donald Trump’s planned trip to China in
November, the US State Department said.
The US President’s tour will also take in regional allies Japan and South Korea. Washington
has alternated between criticising and praising Beijing’s role in the
North Korea crisis and has welcomed its support for new sanctions but
has also urged China to do more to rein in its unruly neighbour. China
has called on both Mr Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un to
tone down their increasingly bellicose rhetoric and instead try to begin
peace talks. Last week, Mr Trump threatened to “totally
destroy” North Korea if it attacks the US or its allies and Kim Jong-un
shot back threatening to launch a nuclear attack.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said: “We are
opposed to any war on the Korean peninsula, and the international
community will never allow a war (which would) plunge people into an
abyss of misery.” “Sanctions and the promoting of talks
are both the requirements of the UN Security Council. We should not
overemphasise one aspect while ignoring the other.” While
China has imposed sanctions on its renegade neighbour, it wants to
avoid precipitating the regime’s downfall over fears that its collapse
could send an influx of refugees across its border and place the US army
at its doorstep.
Source: express.co.uk