North Korea’s weekend nuclear test is fueling a new round of US threats to attack them militarily. It is also expected to have the US leading a new round of trade sanctions at the UN, something which is expected to face heavy resistance from both China and Russia.
Chinese officials see a lot of the recent US sanctions against North Korea as actually targeting Chinese companies, part of what they call America’s “China responsibility theory.” China added that the US military drills are worsening tensions.
Russia was even more frank, saying that they’ve seen no good coming from the several previous rounds of sanctions, and don’t see anything being accomplished by more such efforts. They said a different strategy should be tried.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov made it clear that Russia sees diplomacy as a necessary step, saying they’re ready to take part in discussions on the situation, and are urging the rest of the UN to remain calm and avoid hasty actions.
Diplomacy has been pushed by not just China and Russia, but also South Korea. The Trump Administration, however, has denounced this approach as “appeasement,” and insists that North Korea “only understands one thing.”