Washington:
Washington is scrambling to develop a new strategy to counter North Korea’s aggressive nuclear weapon and missile programs, but tougher sanctions could provoke a diplomatic clash with China.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit the United States’ frontline allies South Korea and Japan next week before heading on to great power rival China to discuss the mounting crisis.
Kim Jong-Un’s regime is testing a new ballistic missile that could threaten US bases and cities in the Pacific Rim and rocket salvo tactics that could overwhelm missile defence systems.
Most observers see China as the only power with the leverage to get its isolated neighbour to stand down and existing United Nations-backed sanctions have had little effect so far.
Read | US rejects China's call to stop drills if North Korea suspends nuclear activities
The crisis is the first major security challenge of Donald Trump’s presidency, and the Pentagon has already provoked China’s ire by deploying an advanced anti-missile system to South Korea.
Now, other options are being considered and the hawkish wing of the Washington foreign policy community is pushing for measures that would hurt Chinese banks that work with Pyongyang.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner would not be drawn on the details of any plan Tillerson might take to Asia, but officials confirmed that an urgent policy review is underway.
Read | China urges US, N Korea to avoid 'head-on collision' amid rising tensions
Toner said the North Korean threat would be “front and center” in the planned talks next week between Tillerson and his Chinese, South Korean and Japanese counterparts.
The senior diplomats would, he said, “talk through what our options are and new ways to look at resolving the situation.”
But the signals coming out of China are not encouraging for those in Washington who cling to the hope that Beijing may be ready to rein in its small but belligerent neighbour.
Read | UNSC to meet on N Korea missile launches
On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Wang Yi implied that the United States and North Korea were equally at fault for provoking the latest crisis and headed towards a “head-on collision.”
Wang urged the US military to halt planned exercises with South Korea, in exchange for Pyongyang halting its nuclear and missile programs—an idea Washington promptly dismissed.
“The onus is on North Korea to take meaningful actions toward denuclearization and refrain from provocations,” Toner said.
China has in the past supported measures against North Korea’s nuclear program, but six sets of UN sanctions since Pyongyang’s first test in 2006 have failed to slow it.
