The United States is concerned that North Korea plans to resume nuclear bomb tests for the first time since 2017, and believes that China and Russia have the power to dissuade it from doing so. Biden and Xi are set to hold their first face-to-face meeting as national leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden will tell Xi that North Korea represents a threat, not just to the United States and its allies South Korea and Japan, but to peace and stability across the the area. “If North Korea continues down this path, it will just mean further increased American military presence and security presence in the region,” he told reporters on Air Force One on Saturday, as Biden flew to Cambodia for weekend regional meetings. “And so the People’s Republic of China has an interest in playing a constructive role in containing North Korea’s worst tendencies,” Sullivan added, using the country’s official name. “Whether they choose to do that or not is of course up to them.” US-led international sanctions have failed to curb North Korea’s growing weapons programs. Its record regime of weapons tests this year includes intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to reach the US mainland. While China and Russia supported tougher UN sanctions after North Korea’s last nuclear test in 2017, in May they vetoed a US-led push for more UN sanctions over renewed ballistic missile launches. US officials have accused both countries of enabling Pyongyang’s missile and bomb programs by failing to properly implement UN Security Council sanctions. Daniel Russell, the top US diplomat for East Asia under former President Barack Obama, said recently that China could eventually become a deterrent. That could happen if Beijing feels its security is under immediate threat, not just from North Korea’s capabilities, but from the build-up of US and allied forces to counter them, he told Reuters. “One would imagine, and I don’t take much comfort from this … that at some point Kim’s ability to escalate will be impeded by China’s own national security interests,” he said. “That’s cold comfort. And that’s not a strategy, but it’s there as a factor.” The day before his meeting with Xi, Biden will hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol in Cambodia to discuss how to rein in North Korea’s nuclear program. Sullivan said Biden plans to preview with them the topics he plans to discuss with Xi and will probe the two leaders on issues they want to raise. US ties with China have since fallen to their lowest level in decades, and a senior administration official said the meeting aimed to limit the deterioration of relations but would be frank about US concerns such as Taiwan and human rights . read more Sullivan also said Biden hoped his first face-to-face talks with Xi would lead to more such meetings. Biden will seek clarification of the positions, he added. “I think the president doesn’t see this as the end of the line, but rather the start of a series of engagements that will also include further leader-to-leader meetings down the road.” Reporting by Nandita Bose, Steve Holland, Susan Heavey and David Brunnstrom. David Brunnstrom writes. Edited by Sandra Maler and Clarence Fernandez Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
