Washinton; President Donald Trump has made it clear to China that he will “start looking” at trade relations with the country if it did not help stop North Korea’s aggressive behaviour, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said on Sunday.
Amidst indication that America may toughen stance against North Korea which recently successfully tested intercontinental ballistic missile, Haley said that there will be a response if China blocked or vetoed any move to impose additional sanctions against North Korea.
“Then I think there will be a response,” Haley told CNN in an interview. “If they don’t go along with that, the President has made it clear that he will start looking at trade relations with China. So we have to see,” she said.
Haley, the first Indian-American holding a cabinet rank in any US presidential administration, said that there were a lot of options on the table when it comes to dealing with China.
“Now the ball’s in their court,” she said. “China has a choice to make. They’re either going to go along with us and the rest of the international community and say, yes, we think that what North Korea did was wrong, or they’re not,” she said.
Appearing on the same talk show, former defence secretary Ashton Carter said that it is time to push China and North Korea to a corner.
“I think it’s important not to take the idea of military action on the Korean Peninsula or war lightly. This is a situation in which we need to get North Korea and China in a corner, and not put our president in a corner,” Carter told CNN.
PTI