hankyoreh

Chinese Ambassador the US Cui Tiankai gives a speech on June 30. (Provided by Chinese embassy to the US)

Beijing stated its clear opposition to calls in South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan for the redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons or nuclear armament in response to North Korea’s sixth nuclear test and missile launches.

Meeting with reporters at an event at the Chinese embassy in Washington to commemorate the 68th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China’s foundation, Ambassador Cui Tiankai responded to calls in South Korea and Japan for the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons or independent nuclear armament following North Korea’s ballistic missile test launch on Sept. 15.

“Just as nuclear weapons will not give North Korea security, they will not guarantee security for South Korea or Japan,” Cui was quoted as saying in a Sept. 16 report in the South China Morning Post.

“We are certainly opposed to the existence of nuclear weapons anywhere on the Korean peninsula,” Cui declared.

“It could only make things [the political situation in the region] much worse,” he added.

Cui also said Beijing understood Seoul’s concerns about nuclear weapons, adding that China would help resolve South Korea’s concerns as long as doing so did not threaten its own security interests.

In response to US demands that China suspend all crude oil supplies to North Korea, Cui said Beijing would do “nothing more and nothing less” than faithfully implement the terms of UN Security Council resolutions sanctioning North Korea.

Cui also stressed that the US “cannot simply foist the [North Korean nuclear and missile] issue on China.”

“I feel that truly effective international coordination will only come if the US works harder than it is doing now,” he said, emphasizing the role of the US.

When asked by reporters what the US should do, Cui replied that it should “refrain from intensifying the threat and work more toward finding an effective means of resuming dialogue and negotiation.”

By Park Min-hee, international editor

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]