The United States is prepared to respond to North Korean nuclear threats on its own if China fails to pressure Pyongyang, President Donald Trump said in an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday.
"Well if China is not going to solve North Korea, We will. That is all I am telling you," he was quoted as telling the newspaper.
Trump will host Chinese President Xi Jinping this Thursday and Friday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where the two leaders are expected to discuss North Korea, China's ambitions in the South China Sea and trade.
"China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won't," he was quoted as saying in the paper.
| "Strategic patience", the policy of both the Obama and Bush 43 administrations, has not worked. It was worth trying in some ways, though we didn't implement the financial sanctions near as well as we could have. But now that the Norks have nuclear weapons, and two-stage long-distance missiles, and re-entry vehicles, the time for patience is at an end. |
Trump's Deputy National Security Adviser K.T. McFarland said there is a "real possibility" North Korea could be capable of hitting the United States with a nuclear-armed missile by the end of Trump's first term, the newspaper reported.
Intelligence experts disagree with McFarland's assessment and say North Korea's ability to launch a nuclear missile is at least "years away."
| Which "intelligence experts"? McFarland at least goes on record. |
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