US Secretary of State said the Trump administration was only in the early stages of its strategy to rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday that Washington was only in the early stages of its campaign to pressure North Korea and to “lean hard” on China to use its influence to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme. Tillerson also outlined the Trump administration’s strategy in handling the nuclear crisis. Analysts, however, have questioned how far Beijing will support Washington’s strategy to exert greater pressure on North Korea. Tillerson also said the United States has a tremendous opportunity to define its relationship with China for the next few decades and he sensed great interest among the Chinese leadership to do this, too. His comments came during his first address to all State Department employees since he took office in early February. Tillerson offered the most detailed outline of the Trump administration’s foreign policy priorities he has given so far, with North Korea among the top concerns. The Trump administration strategy, which Tillerson described as a departure from the Obama government’s approach, includes preparing for more sanctions against North Korea, convincing other countries to apply existing UN sanctions more rigorously, as well as “leaning in hard” on Beijing and to “test” its commitment to reining in its wayward ally. Tillerson said the Trump administration had so far only covered about 20 to 25 per cent of its strategy to put pressure on Pyongyang and it was prepared to assert even stronger force on the reclusive regime. “So it’s a pressure campaign that has a knob on it.
