Chinese President Xi Jinping has written to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offering to cooperate to “accelerate peace” in the world, North Korea’s state news agency KCNA reported on Saturday.
The letter comes as tensions are at their height on the Korean peninsula, after a record-breaking series of missile tests by Pyongyang and as Seoul, Washington and Tokyo have intensified military cooperation.
Pyongyang, in particular, launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on November 18 that landed off Japan, and Kim Jong-Un threatened the United States with a nuclear response if his country was attacked.
“The world is changing”
“The world, times and history are changing in unprecedented ways,” Xi said in response to a letter from Kim Jong-Un, who congratulated him on his historic re-election as head of the Chinese Communist Party and the country in October.
“Given this new situation, I am willing, together with you, to contribute positively (…) to accelerate peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region and the rest of the world,” he said to follow up.
China is North Korea’s most important ally and trading partner, under severe UN sanctions over its nuclear and weapons programs.
China refuses to condemn North Korea missile test
Following a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, China and Russia refused to join 14 countries, including the US, India, France and the UK, which condemned Pyongyang’s launch of ICBMs on November 18th.
In May, Beijing and Moscow vetoed a draft resolution introduced by Washington to strengthen sanctions against North Korea.
During an interview last week on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, US President Joe Biden asked Xi Jinping to tell North Korea “clearly” not to carry out another nuclear test, like Seoul did. and Washington.
“It is certain that our diplomacy will strive to lead China to join the countries that publicly condemn this today and use their influence to persuade” North Korea, a senior US official had said then.
Source: BFM TV
