Foreign affairs expert says China ‘weaponized’ North Korea

Foreign affairs expert Gordon Chang says China has “weaponized” North Korea to challenge the United States, amid failed talks between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“The most important thing in terms of China is that they pose an existential threat to the United States,” Chang, who lived and worked in Hong Kong for almost two decades, told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Mattie Duppler. “One, which is I think most Americans don’t understand the full nature of, when you have Chinese leader Xi Jinping dropping hints that China is the world’s only sovereign state, that is a challenge.”

“We saw the challenge recently in the form of North Korea because China has weaponized North Korea and that gives us a big headache and it’s not just us, its our friends in the region, especially Japan and South Korea,” he continued.

China is North Korea’s biggest trading party and most important ally.

Chang’s comments come after President Trump on Thursday walked away from his second summit with Kim without a deal on denuclearization. The summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, ended abruptly when talks collapsed.

During a news conference following the summit, Trump said that North Korea was willing to dismantle its main nuclear site but wanted all of sanctions on it lifted first. North Korea has since disputed these claims, insisting that it only wanted partial relief from sanctions.

Trump later defended the move, saying that “sometimes you have to walk.”

Chang praised Trump for walking away from the talks with North Korea, saying that it will “freak out” China and put pressure on the country in their trade talks with the U.S.

“Xi was counting on Trump signing a trade agreement Beijing had no intention of honoring,” he tweeted following the news.

The U.S. and China are in the midst of trade negotiations. 

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told lawmakers Wednesday that finalizing a trade agreement with China is part of a long effort to confront Beijing over alleged unfair trade practices.

— Tess Bonn