China caught in crossfire between US and N Korea

Hong Kong

IT'S getting harder for Chinese President Xi Jinping to maintain support for wayward ally North Korea.

For weeks, he has been caught in the middle as leader Kim Jong Un lobbed intercontinental ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, and US President Donald Trump vented his frustration with warnings of "fire and fury."

China has urged calm while backing tighter sanctions against North Korea to ward off US threats of punitive tariffs and military strikes.

The prospect of nuclear war has sparked a debate in Beijing about maintaining support for the Kim dynas…