by\u00a0Peter Symonds<\/p>\n
In talks yesterday in Beijing, US Secretary of State John Kerry threatened to escalate the American military build-up in Asia unless the Chinese government agreed to draconian new economic measures against North Korea over its latest nuclear test.<\/p>\n
At a news conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Kerry declared that the US took North Korea\u2019s nuclear weapons \u201cextremely seriously.\u201d He warned: \u201cThe United States will take all necessary steps to protect our people and allies. We don\u2019t want to heighten security tensions. But we won\u2019t walk away from any options.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following North Korea\u2019s detonation of a fourth nuclear device on January 6, the US and South Korea said discussions had begun over stationing \u201cstrategic assets\u201d on the Korean Peninsula\u2013in other words, bombers, submarines or warships capable of launching a nuclear attack. To underscore the warning, the Pentagon flew a nuclear-capable B-52 strategic bomber to South Korea four days later.<\/p>\n
As Beijing is well aware, the US military build-up is not primarily aimed at North Korea and its limited stockpile of nuclear weapons. Rather it is targeted against China itself, as part of the Obama administration\u2019s \u201cpivot to Asia\u201d over the past five years. Kerry\u2019s visit came just days after the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released a comprehensive study<\/a> commissioned by the Pentagon calling for an accelerated US military expansion in Asia to counter China.<\/p>\n The rather blunt diplomatic comments by Kerry and Wang at yesterday\u2019s press conference obviously masked more rancorous exchanges behind closed doors. Journalists waited around as the pair\u2019s meeting dragged out for nearly five hours. As the Washington Post<\/em> noted, when they finally appeared, \u201ctension [was] written across their faces.\u201d<\/p>\n Kerry had already made clear, before his visit, that he intended to confront the Chinese leadership over North Korea. Following Pyongyang\u2019s nuclear test, he declared that China\u2019s \u201cparticular approach\u201d to North Korea had \u201cnot worked\u201d and warned \u201cwe cannot continue business as usual.\u201d A senior State Department official told the media earlier this week that Kerry would not only press Chinese officials for a tough UN resolution but for \u201cwhat China on a unilateral basis, as North Korea\u2019s lifeline, as North Korea\u2019s patron, will choose to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Yesterday Kerry outlined the sweeping character of the sanctions demanded by the US, saying: \u201cThere are certain goods and services that flow between North Korea and China; there are movements of ships, ports, so forth; aviation is an area and a sector of concern; various resource exchanges, whether it\u2019s coal or fuel\u2013all of these areas where there are border customs.\u201d<\/p>\n Washington is demanding that Beijing choke off North Korea\u2019s only access to vital supplies such as oil and aviation fuel, severely limit trade and block its already restricted connections to the global financial system. Such measures threaten to precipitate an economic collapse in North Korea and a severe political crisis for the fragile North Korean regime.<\/p>\n The Chinese leadership had flatly refused to impose such a blockade, fearing that a political implosion in Pyongyang would send a flood of refugees into northern China and open the door for Washington to engineer a pro-US regime on China\u2019s doorstep. While condemning North Korea\u2019s nuclear test, Foreign Minister Wang declared that \u201csanctions are not an end in themselves\u201d and urged a return to \u201cthe path of negotiation and consultation.\u201d He insisted any UN resolution \u201cshould not provoke new tension in the situation, [or] destabilise the Korean Peninsula.\u201d<\/p>\n Beijing is the sponsor of the so-called six party talks involving the US, China, Japan, the two Koreas and Russia. An international agreement on North Korea\u2019s nuclear programs broke down in 2008 after the Bush administration unilaterally demanded a tougher inspection regime. The Obama administration has made no attempt to revive the negotiations, insisting instead that North Korea commit to giving up its nuclear weapons prior to any talks.<\/p>\n Washington has exploited the ongoing tensions on the Korean Peninsula as the pretext for strengthening its military presence. After the previous North Korean nuclear test in 2013, the Pentagon announced the expansion of its anti-ballistic missile system in Asia with the stationing of a second THAAD battery in Japan. The US is now pushing for South Korea to accept a THAAD installation. These anti-ballistic missile systems are integral to the US preparations for war with China.<\/p>\n Keeping up the pressure on Beijing, Kerry emphasised that it was \u201cgood to agree on the goal, but it\u2019s not enough to agree on the goal… We are looking forward to working with China … to achieve an understanding about the strong resolution that introduces significant new measures to curtail North Korea\u2019s ability to advance its prescribed nuclear and ballistic missile programs.\u201d<\/p>\n While North Korea was on top of the agenda, Kerry also again demanded an end to China\u2019s land reclamation activities and \u201cmilitarisation\u201d in the South China Sea. He insisted that the US did not take sides on the territorial disputes between China and its neighbours. He advocated their settlement \u201cunder the Law of the Sea, arbitration, rule of law, direct bilateral negotiation.\u201d<\/p>\n In reality, Washington, which has not ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, has directly challenged China\u2019s maritime claims. Last October, the Pentagon deliberately sent the guided missile destroyer, the USS Lassen, within the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit surrounding a Chinese-administered islet.<\/p>\n Wang declared that \u201cthe South China Sea Islands have historically been China\u2019s territory\u201d that China has a right to protect. He said facilities for self-defence were not the same as militarisation. \u201cIf one equates such a right to militarisation, then the South China Sea has been militarised long ago, and mind you, China was not the first party that started the militarisation,\u201d he said, a reference to the actions of Vietnam and the Philippines.<\/p>\n Kerry and Wang made repeated pro forma references to the need for greater collaboration between the United States and China to ensure peace and stability. The meeting, however, signalled deepening tensions between the two countries as the Obama administration steps up its \u201cpivot,\u201d accompanied by a distinct lack of cooperation on potentially-explosive issues.<\/p>\n Via WSWS<\/a>. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license. by\u00a0Peter Symonds In talks yesterday in Beijing, US Secretary of State John Kerry threatened to escalate the American military build-up in Asia unless the Chinese government agreed to draconian new economic measures against North Korea over its latest nuclear test. At a news conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Kerry declared that the US […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-219541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-newswire","7":"category-latest-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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