The United States through President Donald Trump feels that China is doing nothing on North Korea and with this, China needs to decide if it is interested to finally enforce existing resolutions against North Korea. However, Beijing did not give any comments or details regarding the request of the U.S.
It was reported that U.S. Vice President Mike Pence called on China to employ its influence to finally motivate North Korea to stop its nuclear testing and will eventually join the family of nations. But it looks like China's interest to enforce anything against North Korea might be limited.
Pence also added that the United States did not overestimate the influence of China over North Korea but they overestimated the level to which the country will make use of its influence. It can be recalled that North Korea gets mostly its foreign capital since trading with China. Even if China can use that trade as leverage against North Korea, it won't happen since China fears a collapse in North Korea.
The Atlantic reported that in the previous times, China was willing to impose some economic pain on North Korea but not the point that the country will already threaten the stability of North Korea's regime. This was also the reason why China would want to stop the imposition of international sanctions.
Previous reports claimed that several sanctions were made against North Korea and these included the prohibition of the sale of military equipment and some goods which had the purpose to target the financial system of the country. The trade of commodities has been banned too and this provided an important financial lifeline to North Korea.
But those sanctions were not greater in terms of their impact that' is why there is a little chance that they were able to stop the missile and nuclear programs of North Korea or even block the country's access to the international financial system. It can be recalled that the U.S. started imposing sanctions against North Korea last year by targeting the entities that would collaborate with the country and through its weapon programs and trade in goods.
Since it seems like these sanctions are not really helpful in curbing North Korea's missile testing programs, the U.S. officials and the Trump administration were urged to also sanction North Korea's allies which enable the country's continued survival. For one, the U.S. can have the leverage to seize assets of North Korea.
