US-led UN Sanctions Effort Vetoes Against North Korea, China: Let's See What Will Happen

Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Zhang Jun. (Source: FMPRC.Gov.Cn)

JAKARTA - China has vetoed a United States-led effort to impose United Nations (UN) sanctions on North Korea over the launch of a new ballistic missile.

China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said Beijing did not want to see North Korea conduct a new nuclear test. But he also warned against making presumptions about how Beijing would react at the United Nations if North Korea went ahead with its first nuclear test since 2017.

Previously, Washington had warned such tests could happen at any time and again, would encourage more. UN sanctions.

"Let's see what will happen, but I don't think we should think about what will happen with a nuclear test," Zhang told Reuters, two weeks after China and Russia vetoed the imposition of UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea. June.

"Denuclearization is one of China's main goals. We don't want to see another test," he said.

The double veto publicly split the 15-member Security Council for the first time since it began punishing Pyongyang in 2006. The agency has steadily and unanimously raised sanctions for years, in a bid to cut funding for North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

However, in recent years China and Russia have pushed for an easing of sanctions on humanitarian grounds, in the hope that North Korea can be convinced to return to negotiations with the United States to give up its nuclear weapons.

"Only with dialogue do we see an improvement in the situation. With sanctions, we see further setbacks. Our basic position is very clear - sanctions do not solve the problem," Zhang said.

North Korea has carried out dozens of missile launches this year, including an intercontinental ballistic missile, in violation of its self-imposed test moratorium.

Zhang has urged Washington to relax unilateral sanctions on North Korea, ending joint military exercises with South Korea in a bid to revive talks with Pyongyang.

Meanwhile, the United States says it has repeatedly reached out to North Korea but has received no response to its offer of talks without preconditions.

"To the US, we ask them to take concrete action and engage in dialogue. We also tell our DPRK friends to really engage in serious dialogue with the United States," Zhang said, referring to North Korea's official name - North Korea. Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Zhang said it was not a mission impossible to restart talks between North Korea and the United States.

"The United States is the number one superpower in the world. If the United States wants to have a dialogue with anyone in the world, it's not a difficult thing. It's up to the DPRK to make a decision, but surely our willingness is there," he concluded.