President Donald Trump’s disappointment in China over its inaction, and his willingness to go to war with North Korea, are likely not being taken seriously in China, according to a recent report.
“The military option the Americans are threatening won’t likely happen because the stakes will be too high,” said Liu Ming, director of the Korean Peninsula Research Center at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, according to a recent Bloomberg report. “It’s a pretext and an excuse to pile up pressure on China. It’s more like blackmail than a realistic option.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham said this week that the President says there will be war with North Korea over missiles, especially if North Korea continues to aim intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) at the U.S.
Graham appeared on NBC’s TODAY Show on Tuesday and said Trump “[…] has told me that. I believe him. If I were China, I would believe him, too, and do something about it.”
And over the weekend, Trump tweeted that he was “disappointed” in China.
(Twitter)
“Our foolish past leaders have allowed them to make hundreds of billions of dollars a year in trade, yet they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk. We will no longer allow this to continue,” Trump tweeted Saturday.
(Twitter)
“China could easily solve this problem,” Trump added.
The president will not allow Kim Jong Un to “hit America” with an ICBM, Graham told TODAY.
“If there’s going to be a war to stop [Kim Jong Un], it will be over there [on the Korean Peninsula]. If thousands die, they’re going to die over there. They’re not going to die here. And he has told me that to my face,” Graham said.
“And that may be provocative, but not really,” the senator added. “When you’re president of the United States, where does your allegiance lie? To the people of the United States.”
North Korea recently launched a second ICBM in July, which landed in the Sea of Japan but experts say could have reached as far as New York City, based on how long it flew and distance travelled.
On the eve of July Fourth, North Korea successfully tested its first Hwasong-14 missile, and Kim Jong Un reportedly said there are more “gifts” for the “American bastards.”
[revad2]
