UN discusses NK sanctions

The UN Security Council was set to discuss a resolution on sanctions against North Korea late Thursday after China and the US reportedly reached an agreement to punish the country over its recent nuclear and missile tests. The US on Thursday was expected to present a draft resolution to the 15-member UN council for a vote on the sanctions, Reuters reported. "We hope and believe that the new resolution can effectively limit further progress of the DPRK's nuclear and missile program," China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing on Thursday, adding that important progress has been made in the UN Security Council's consultations on the new resolution against North Korea, "and we are looking forward to an agreement in the near future." Hua reiterated the importance of dialogue and negotiations in resolving the North Korean nuclear issue. The unscheduled participation of President Barack Obama in the meeting between China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the US National Security Advisor Susan Rice on Wednesday underscored the president's "interest in building a durable, constructive, and productive US-China relationship," said US National Security Council spokesperson Ned Price in a statement on the White House website on Wednesday. Beijing and Washington have agreed to adopt a new UN Security Council Resolution that "goes beyond previous resolutions" and not to "accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state," according to the White House. President Obama looks forward to welcoming his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping at the Nuclear Security Summit, which will be held in Washington, DC in late March, Price said. Critical moment "We are currently at a critical moment in dealing with many issues involving China-US relations, such as the North Korean nuclear issue and the South China Sea issue," Li Kaisheng, a research fellow at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday. Western media reports described Obama's meeting with Wang on Wednesday as a "drop in" on the meeting between Wang and Rice. "Obama's joining the meeting between Wang and Rice showed that the US attaches great importance to bilateral relations and puts many expectations on Wang's visit," Li said. "The North Korean nuclear issue can be an opportunity to push forward China-US relations," Li said, noting that bilateral relations will benefit from progress made in terms of restarting negotiations. "It [the North Korean nuclear issue] should have been and, for a period of time, used to be the highlight of China-US cooperation as the two countries share common interests in this regard, such as nuclear nonproliferation and regional stability," Yu Shaohua, an expert on North Korean studies at the China Institute of International Studies told the Global Times on Thursday. The US has been pushing for harsher sanctions since North Korea's nuclear test in January, while China has emphasized handling the issue through dialogue. The different approaches of China and the US in dealing with North Korea reflect the differences between the two countries in considering regional security affairs, Yu said. "This time for Wang's visit, the US has softened its tone," she said, noting that the US now is becoming calm and rational in resolving the North Korea issue. "China and the US are not only competitors but also partners," Cui Zhiying, director of the Korean Peninsula Research Center at Tongji University, told the Global Times. In the future, China-US relations will still focus on cooperation, both economic and military, Cui said. On Thursday, China's Defense Ministry confirmed that the Chinese navy will participate in a series of joint naval drills from June to August in Hawaii, which was one of the achievements during President Xi's US visit in September last year. Cui said such exchanges will contribute to mutual trust, peace and regional stability. The nuclear security summit in March can also be a chance for the two countries' top leaders to discuss the current hot-spot issues, including the North Korean nuclear issue and the South China Sea issue, Li said. US responsibility "It is impossible for China to cut off all economic contact between it and North Korea," Cui said, pointing out sanctions are only measures rather than objectives in tackling the nuclear issue. "Dialogue like the Six-Party Talks is always the fundamental method," Cui said, warning that mutual distrust between North Korea and the US is a major obstacle in resuming the talks. China could take the role of bridgebuilder and coordinator in the talks, he said. Yu believes that the US should shoulder the major burden in restarting the talks. "If the US shoulders the responsibility in dealing with the nuclear issue instead of passing the buck, the dialogue can be resumed and the prospect of handling the issue will be bright," Yu said.