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07-01-2017, 09:07 AM
Relations between China and the United States soured on Friday as Beijing fumed over US arms sales to Taiwan and US sanctions against a Chinese bank linked to **rth Korea.
The sudden US actions and China’s angry response mark a break from the friendlier tone that had emerged after US President Donald Trump hosted Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at his Florida resort in April.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the US moves "go against the important spirit" of the meeting at Mar-a-Lago and are "inconsistent with the general direction of US-China relations".
"We hope that the US administration can correct their wrongdoings so the US-China relations can go back to the correct track of sound and steady development, so that our important cooperation in other fields will **t be affected negatively," he told a regular press briefing.
Lu urged Washington to "stop their wrongful actions" after the US Treasury Department said the Bank of Dandong would be severed from the US financial system for allegedly laundering **rth Korean cash.
He voiced "firm" opposition to the US administration’s approval of a $1.3 billion arms sale to Taiwan, which China considers a rebel province awaiting reunification.
And Lu pushed back against "irresponsible" remarks after the US State Department voiced concerns about basic freedoms in Hong Kong, just as Xi was paying a landmark visit to the semi-auto**mous city to mark 20 years since Britain returned the former colony to China.
"It looks like definitely the honeymoon, which was caused by Beijing’s promises to do something on **rth Korea, has ended," Willy Lam, a politics expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told AFP.
"I think this is Trump playing the Taiwan card to put pressure on China to do more on **rth Korea and maybe also on the trade front," Lam said.
But James Reilly, an associate professor in international relations at the University of Sydney, said "China will be less likely to do anything on **rth Korea" due to the sanctions and the arms sale.
Trump, who lacerated China over its trade policies during the election campaign, toned down the rhetoric after meeting Xi as he sought China’s help to pressure its ally **rth Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programmes.
But the mercurial US leader raised eyebrows last week in a tweet concluding that China’s efforts on **rth Korea had "**t worked out".
The Treasury an**uncement said Dandong had been identified as "a foreign bank of primary money-laundering concern" that had been "facilitating millions of dollars of transactions for companies involved in **rth Korea’s WMD (******* of mass destruction) and ballistic missile programmes."
The bank will **w be prevented from having accounts or doing business with US financial institutions.
The department also sanctioned two Chinese individuals said to have established front companies to facilitate financial transactions for **rth Korea, and a Chinese shipping company accused of helping smuggle banned luxury goods into the country.
"This is **t directed at China, this is directed at a bank, as well as individuals and entities in China," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
But, he warned, "if we find other activity, we will sanction other entities. **body’s off limits."
China, which borders **rth Korea and is considered its only major ally, argues that negotiations are the best way to persuade Pyongyang to halt its nuclear and missile activities.
China’s approach is echoed by South Korea’s dovish new president Moon Jae-In, who arrived in Washington late on Wednesday.
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The sudden US actions and China’s angry response mark a break from the friendlier tone that had emerged after US President Donald Trump hosted Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at his Florida resort in April.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the US moves "go against the important spirit" of the meeting at Mar-a-Lago and are "inconsistent with the general direction of US-China relations".
"We hope that the US administration can correct their wrongdoings so the US-China relations can go back to the correct track of sound and steady development, so that our important cooperation in other fields will **t be affected negatively," he told a regular press briefing.
Lu urged Washington to "stop their wrongful actions" after the US Treasury Department said the Bank of Dandong would be severed from the US financial system for allegedly laundering **rth Korean cash.
He voiced "firm" opposition to the US administration’s approval of a $1.3 billion arms sale to Taiwan, which China considers a rebel province awaiting reunification.
And Lu pushed back against "irresponsible" remarks after the US State Department voiced concerns about basic freedoms in Hong Kong, just as Xi was paying a landmark visit to the semi-auto**mous city to mark 20 years since Britain returned the former colony to China.
"It looks like definitely the honeymoon, which was caused by Beijing’s promises to do something on **rth Korea, has ended," Willy Lam, a politics expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told AFP.
"I think this is Trump playing the Taiwan card to put pressure on China to do more on **rth Korea and maybe also on the trade front," Lam said.
But James Reilly, an associate professor in international relations at the University of Sydney, said "China will be less likely to do anything on **rth Korea" due to the sanctions and the arms sale.
Trump, who lacerated China over its trade policies during the election campaign, toned down the rhetoric after meeting Xi as he sought China’s help to pressure its ally **rth Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programmes.
But the mercurial US leader raised eyebrows last week in a tweet concluding that China’s efforts on **rth Korea had "**t worked out".
The Treasury an**uncement said Dandong had been identified as "a foreign bank of primary money-laundering concern" that had been "facilitating millions of dollars of transactions for companies involved in **rth Korea’s WMD (******* of mass destruction) and ballistic missile programmes."
The bank will **w be prevented from having accounts or doing business with US financial institutions.
The department also sanctioned two Chinese individuals said to have established front companies to facilitate financial transactions for **rth Korea, and a Chinese shipping company accused of helping smuggle banned luxury goods into the country.
"This is **t directed at China, this is directed at a bank, as well as individuals and entities in China," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
But, he warned, "if we find other activity, we will sanction other entities. **body’s off limits."
China, which borders **rth Korea and is considered its only major ally, argues that negotiations are the best way to persuade Pyongyang to halt its nuclear and missile activities.
China’s approach is echoed by South Korea’s dovish new president Moon Jae-In, who arrived in Washington late on Wednesday.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/World-TheNewsInternational/~4/JEFcqoVr5hc
أكثر... (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/World-TheNewsInternational/~3/JEFcqoVr5hc/213588-China-US-ties-sour-over-N-Korea-Taiwan)