Is China Pushing Trump to Talk to North Korea?
With the heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula,
and Chinese-North Korean relations at a low point, the risk of a strong response by the North to the exercises — through the launch of missiles or a nuclear test — is higher than usual, said Peter Hayes, the executive director of the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability in Berkeley, Calif. Last year, for example, the North conducted its fifth nuclear test during joint American-South Korean military exercises.
He suggested ramping down the exercises to "avoid inadvertent clashes
and escalation to nuclear war, and to probe North Korean intentions." China would like the Trump administration to deal directly with North Korea.
Mr. Trump’s response to the recent North Korean missile test was restrained, perhaps the result of Mr. Obama’s warning after the November election
that North Korea would be the incoming president’s most dangerous foreign policy challenge.
Annual joint military exercises, set for March between South Korea
and the United States, are expected to involve an American aircraft carrier, advanced stealth fighters, B-52 and B-1B bombers and a nuclear submarine, according to South Korean news reports.
But if Beijing was sending a message to North Korea, it was also directing one at President Trump, who has complained
that China was not putting enough pressure on North Korea.
This annual show of force, not far from the demilitarized zone between North
and South Korea and off the Korean coast, has traditionally been viewed by North Korea as an American preparation for an attack against its forces.
