President Donald Trump on Monday night suggested China may take decisive action against North Korea after the latter nation tested what it later claimed to be its first intercontinental ballistic missile.
“Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!” Trump tweeted.
North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life? Hard to believe that South Korea…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2017
….and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2017
North Korea on Tuesday claimed it launched a successful test of its first intercontinental ballistic missile. If true, the launch would be a direct rebuke to Trump’s assertion in January that such a test would not happen.
The Associated Press reported that Russia and China on Tuesday made a joint recommendation for a proposal to defuse tensions on the Korean peninsula.
In a joint statement, the Russian and Chinese foreign ministries suggested that North Korea declare a “moratorium on testing nuclear devices and test launches of ballistic missiles” while the U.S. and South Korea should “accordingly refrain from large-scale joint maneuvers.”
The recommendation came amid tensions between the U.S. and Russia over Russian interference in the 2016 election, as well as a similar flare-up between the U.S. and China after the latter nation accused a U.S. Navy destroyer of trespassing in the territorial waters of an island in the South China Sea whose claim is disputed by three Asian governments.
