China says willing to pay the price for new North Korea sanctions

[BEIJING] China will pay the biggest price from the new United Nations sanctions against North Korea because of its close economic relationship with the country, but will always enforce the resolutions, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday that could slash its US$3 billion annual export revenue by a third.

Speaking at a regional security forum in Manila on Monday, Mr Wang said the new resolution showed China and the international community's opposition to North Korea's continued missile tests, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Owing to China's traditional economic ties with North Korea, it will mainly be China paying the price for implementing the resolution," the statement cited Mr Wang as saying.

"But in order to protect the international non-proliferation system and regional peace and stability, China will as before fully and strictly properly implement the entire contents of the relevant resolution."

China has repeatedly said it is committed to enforcing increasingly tough UN resolutions on North Korea, though it has also said what it terms "normal" trade and ordinary North Koreans should not be affected.

The latest UN resolution bans North Korean exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. It also prohibits countries from increasing the numbers of North Korean labourers currently working abroad, bans new joint ventures with North Korea and any new investment in current joint ventures.

Mr Wang said that apart from the new sanctions, the resolution also made clear that the six party talks process, a stalled dialogue mechanism with North Korea that also includes Russia and Japan, should be restarted.

That was promise that all Security Council members made, including China, Russia and the United States, and which ought to be carried out, Mr Wang added.

He said China fully appreciates comments earlier this month by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that the United States does not seek to topple the North Korean government and would like dialogue with Pyongyang at some point.

The United States does not seek regime change, the collapse of the regime, an accelerated reunification of the peninsula or an excuse to send the US military into North Korea, Mr Tillerson said.

Mr Wang said Mr Tillerson's "Four Nos" promise was a positive signal.

China "hopes North Korea can echo this signal from the United States", Mr Wang added.

Speaking at the same forum on Monday, Mr Tillerson held a door open for dialogue with North Korea saying Washington was willing to talk to Pyongyang if it halted a series of recent missile test launches.

REUTERS