In an interview with Agence France-Presse on April 14, Liu Xiaoming, special representative of the Chinese government on Korean Peninsula Affairs and a China Forum expert, shed light on China’s position on Korean Peninsula issues.

Regarding Pyongyang’s missile tests, Liu said that people tend to “focus on the launches and nuclear tests of the DPRK, but they ignore the reason why they are doing this is a lack of a mechanism, a security structure” to guarantee peace on the peninsula.

China has always insisted on maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, on denuclearizing the peninsula and establishing a peace mechanism, and on resolving issues through dialogue, said Liu. He believes that the UN Security Council should ease sanctions against the DPRK in accordance with the country’s denuclearization efforts.

Washington’s “message sent to the DPRK is still pressure, sanctions, confrontation, so that made dialogue impossible,” Liu said, adding that European leaders should “persuade Americans to address security concerns” of the DPRK. “We appreciate the independent strategy by some European countries,” he said. “I think it serves the interests of Europe.”

“We are concerned about the US’ intention to use Korean Peninsula issues as a tool for containing China,” Liu told AFP in response to rising tensions on the peninsula. “It’s part of their Indo-Pacific strategy… to gang up allies, to strengthen their alliance with (ROK) and Japan.”

China is “a responsible member of the UN Security Council” and “we certainly carry out our obligations fully,” Liu stressed. China is committed to refraining from using or threatening to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states and nuclear-weapon-free zones, and to making continuous efforts for world peace and stability.

Read the original article here: 

https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/3/202614/China%E2%80%99s-Korea-envoy-accuses-US-of-%E2%80%98using%E2%80%99- tensions%C2%A0 

Photo credits:

Twitter @ Liu Xiaoming