Trump, characteristically, tweeted various warnings mere days following his summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Florida estate last week. China has historically worked as a counterweight to North Korea, thus enabling China to keep some of the actions of the complex country in check.
Trump, via Twitter, implied that China could be handsomely rewarded by the U.S. with a trade deal—if they increase the pressure they put on North Kores that is. In his own words, Trump exclaimed, “I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the U.S. will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!”
However, the main trouble lays in the lightly masked threat by Trump that he will not hesitate to intervene in North Korea, even if China does not choose to collaborate with him. He tweeted about this declaring: “North Korea is looking for trouble. If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! U.S.A.” Aside from how alarming it is that these statements are being made on Twitter, the real concern stems from Trump’s belligerent attitude towards North Korea—only days after he ordered strikes on Syria, complicating the situation of the U.S. in relation to the ongoing conflict there.
The aforementioned tweets, however, are compatible with Trump’s prior comments regarding his stance on North Korea. Earlier this month, Trump spoke to The Financial Times on the matter, where he spoke strongly on North Korea, but did so cryptically in avoiding to elaborate on his opinions and potential plans of action.
“China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won’t,” declared Trump in his conversation with The Financial Times. He then continued speaking on the matter stating, “And if they do, that will not be very good for China. And if they don’t, it won’t be good for anyone. If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you.”
Despite the lack of specificity and substance, these comments carry a heavy weight and the implications of such alluded to actions have the potential to be disastrous.
North Korea has recently provoked strong reactions from the United States as a result of their series of ballistic missile tests. As tensions between North Korea and the United States seem to be consistently increasing, there is also a very real and substantiated fear that North Korea’s nuclear programming is developing at an alarming rate with great efficiency.
Pyongyang revealed on Monday that it would “hold the U.S. wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences” after the U.S.S. Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its battle group were sent to waters off the Korean Peninsula this past weekend. The United States and South Korea seem to be gearing up for the possibility of an outbreak of war in the area, which has provoked the suspicion of North Korea as the unpredictable country suspects the exercise could be preparation for a hypothetical invasion of its territory.
Trump’s choice to release bombs on an airbase in Syria last week in reaction to the Syrian government’s chemical weapon attack on its own people in a rebel-occupied area have led to increased public opinion that Trump may tangibly be considering a military-related solution to the problems in relation to North Korea.
When the issue was brought up, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson displayed no intention of disproving the theory of a military solution being devised. Tillerson merely stated, “President Trump is willing to act when governments and actors cross the line.”
Only increasing the concerns in relation to North Korea, according to The Wall Street Journal, amplified activity seems to have taken place at a nuclear test site in the belligerent country in anticipation of the anniversary of its communist founding, which is on April 15th.
Featured Image via Wikimedia.
