Xi Jinping calls on Kim Jong Un to cooperate for world peace
The Chinese president wants to cooperate with the North Korean leader to “accelerate peace” in the world.
XI with Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un in 2019.
AFP
Chinese President Xi Jinping has written to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un asking him to cooperate in “accelerating peace” in the world, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA reported on Saturday. The letter comes amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula, after a series of missile tests by Pyongyang and as Seoul, Washington and Tokyo step up military cooperation.
Notably, Pyongyang launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on November 18 that fell off Japan, and Kim Jong Un threatened the United States with a nuclear response if his country was attacked. “The world, times and history are changing in an unprecedented way,” Xi Jinping said in response to Kim Jong Un’s letter to the Chinese Communist Party and the country’s historic October reappointment.
“In the face of this new situation, I am ready to contribute positively (…) together with you to accelerate peace, stability, growth and prosperity in the region and the rest of the world,” he continued. China remains North Korea’s most important ally and trading partner, under tough United Nations sanctions over its nuclear and weapons programs. Following Monday’s UN Security Council meeting, China and Russia declined to join 14 countries, including the US, India, France and the UK, in condemning Pyongyang’s ICBM firing on November 18.
In May, Beijing and Moscow vetoed a draft resolution presented by Washington to strengthen economic sanctions against North Korea. During an interview on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali last week, US President Joe Biden asked Xi Jinping to “clearly” tell North Korea not to conduct new nuclear tests like those conducted by Seoul and Washington.
“It is certain that our diplomacy will try to engage China and use its influence to appease the countries that are publicly condemning it today,” a senior US official declared at the time.
AFP
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