Kerry presses China on North Korea, South China Sea

“Clearly we have several important issues that we need to find the way forward on”, Kerry told reporters as he began his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. He will push for progress on North Korea’s nuclear tests and China’s South China Sea activities.

Russian Federation along with North Korea’s closest ally China have been encouraging a path of dialogue inclusive of the reclusive state’s notorious regime. The world benefits when the United States and China can work together, he added.

Lavrov also said that the task is “not to ensure that North Korea has no nuclear weapons but to ensure that there are no such weapons on the peninsula at all and the United States should not bring nuclear arsenal elements there”.

(English- reuters edit no. 3104) “China has a particular ability because of its special role and its connections to North Korea, an ability to be able to help us significantly to resolve this challenge”.

On January 6, Pyongyang claimed it had carried out its first hydrogen bomb test, which triggered condemnation from the global community that denounced the test as provocative and undermining stability in the region. Analysts have long said that Beijing fears pushing Pyongyang too hard could lead to its collapse, instability on its border and ultimately the emergence of a pro-U.S. nation next door.

Kerry was in Cambodia on Tuesday after a visit to neighboring Laos as part of an effort to urge unity among leaders of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the sea issue before a summit with President Barack Obama next month.

“The U.S. may have realized the approach before of trying to appeal to China’s ego, trying to praise China into becoming, in the U.S. eyes, a responsible power, has not produced any result”, Xie said.

The two men said they also discussed territorial disputes in the South China Sea, but there was no mention of any agreement on steps to reduce tensions over the issue.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State John Kerry held talks in Beijing on Wednesday morning. “Sanctions are not an end in themselves”.

“I stressed the importance of finding common ground among the claimants and avoiding a destabilising cycle of mistrust or escalation”, Mr Kerry said.

South Korean maritime police on Wednesday withdrew divers after they failed to find at least four people believed to be trapped inside a Chinese fishing boat that capsized and killed at least one passenger near a small island off South Korea’s southwest coast.

China insists any disputes should be handled bilaterally. China dismisses the warnings as unwarranted, but has harshly criticized a U.S.-Philippines defense pact that allows American forces, warships and planes to be based temporarily in local military camps. “Global law grants all sovereign states the right of self protection and self defence, and it has nothing to do with the so-called “militarization”, said Wang.