Sept. 7 (UPI) -- China's top
diplomat said Thursday he agrees additional sanctions need to be imposed on North
Korea, following the country's sixth nuclear test Sunday.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the
statement during a joint press conference in Beijing with Nepal's Minister for
Foreign Affairs Krishna Bahadur Mahara -- a sign China could be willing to
cooperate on further sanctions.
Neither Chinese President Xi Jinping
nor Russian President Vladimir Putin had indicated they were willing to pursue sanctions.
During a meeting with South Korean
President Moon
Jae-in, Putin said the North Korea crisis cannot be "resolved by
sanctions alone," a sign Moscow could be hesitant to press forward with
fresh penalties at the United Nations Security Council.
Wang is taking a different approach,
according to South Korean news service News 1.
"Given the new unfolding
developments on the Korean peninsula, China agrees with the point the U.N.
Security Council should take necessary measures," the Chinese foreign
minister said.
He added, "Sanctions are only half
a solution, so dialogue and negotiations should be carried out together."
The United States is circulating a draft
resolution at the Security Council, that would allow U.S. Navy and Air Force
ships to stop and search North Korean vessels in international waters, The New York Times reported.
Military interdictions at sea, however,
could raise tensions not seen since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when
President John F. Kennedy ordered a blockade of the
island, according to the report.
The draft resolution also proposes a ban
on oil shipments, a move that China has resisted in the past.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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