The US indicated yesterday it would continue joint military exercises with South Korea following a proposal by China that the drills be suspended in exchange for North Korea halting its nuclear activities.
The "exercises are transparent, defence-oriented, and have been carried out annually for nearly 40 years," Pentagon spokesperson Gary Ross said.
"Our activities and commitment to defend (South Korea) from North Korean aggression cannot be equated to North Korea's repeated violations of its obligations and agreements."
The Chinese proposal would bring the two parties back to the negotiating table, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters on the sidelines of the annual plenary session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing.
His comments came after North Korea launched four ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on Monday and the US in response began the deployment of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system to South Korea.
The US dismissed efforts to equate its actions with North Korea, stressing its long-standing commitment to South Korea's defence and maintaining stability in the region.
"The world needs to understand this isn''t about the US and North Korea," State Department spokespersonn Mark Toner said Wednesday. "The world is threatened by North Korean actions."
US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley cast North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as "someone who's trying to get attention" and said the US would take seriously North Korea's claims it was trying to reach US military bases in Japan.
"We are not dealing with a rational person," she said at the United Nations.The UN Security Council on Tuesday condemned North Korea’s missile launches, which contravene UN resolutions, and expressed concern over Pyongyang's "increasingly destabilising behaviour.”
Wang said Pyongyang on one side and and Seoul and Washington on the other were "like two accelerating trains coming toward each other with neither side willing to give way.
"The question is, are the sides really ready for a head-on collision?" he continued.China’s role was to switch the tracks and help apply the brakes in order to avoid the collision, he said.
The issue was mainly between the US and North Korea, though China was also "indispensable to the resolution of the nuclear issue," Wang said.
"China has a strong commitment to denuclearising the peninsula," he added.
"Nuclear weapons will not bring security. The use of force will not bring solutions. Talks deserve another chance, and peace is still within our grasp."
Chinese efforts to restart an international forum on North Korea’s denuclearisation have failed repeatedly in recent years, and Beijing usually blames the US and North Korea for escalating tensions in the region.
In particular, China has long criticised Washington and Seoul's plans to deploy a missile defence system in South Korea, which it worries could shift the balance of power in the region.
On Tuesday, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry said the country firmly opposed the deployment of THAAD and would "take necessary measures to safeguard (its) security interests.”
- dpa
