BEIJING: If North Korea launches an attack that threatens the United States then China should stay neutral, but if the United States attacks first and tries to overthrow North Korea’s government China will stop then, a Chinese state-run newspaper said on Friday.
President Donald Trump ratcheted up his rhetoric toward North Korea and its leader on Thursday, warning Pyongyang against attacking Guam or US allies after it disclosed plans to fire missiles over Japan to land near the US Pacific territory.
China, North Korea’s most important ally and trading partner, has reiterated calls for calm during the current crisis. It has expressed frustration with both Pyongyang’s repeated nuclear and missile tests and with behavior from South Korea and the United States that it sees as escalating tensions.
The widely-read state-run Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, wrote in an editorial that Beijing is not able to persuade either Washington or Pyongyang to back down.
“It needs to make clear its stance to all sides and make them understand that when their actions jeopardize China’s interests, China will respond with a firm hand,” said the paper, which does not represent government policy.
“China should also make clear that if North Korea launches missiles that threaten US soil first and the US retaliates, China will stay neutral,” it added.
“If the US and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so.”
China has long worried that any conflict on the Korean peninsula, or a repeat of the 1950-53 Korean war, could unleash a wave of destabilizing refugees into its northeast, and could end up with a reunified county allied with the United States.
North Korea is a useful buffer state for China between it and US forces based in South Korea, and also across the sea in Japan.
The Global Times said China will “firmly resist any side which wants to change the status quo of the areas where China’s interests are concerned.”
“The Korean Peninsula is where the strategic interests of all sides converge, and no side should try to be the absolute dominator of the region.”
China should stay neutral if North Korea attacks first, says state-run paper
China should stay neutral if North Korea attacks first, says state-run paper
France releases suspected Russia ‘shadow fleet’ tanker after fine
- The ship is suspected of being part of a shadow fleet that carries oil for countries such as Russia and Iran
- “The tanker Grinch is leaving French waters after paying several million euros and enduring a costly three-week immobilization in Fos-sur-Mer,” Barrot said
MARSEILLE: France on Tuesday released a tanker called Grinch suspected of being part of Russia’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet” after its owner paid a fine of several million euros, a minister said.
French forces and their allies boarded the oil tanker last month between Spain and Morocco after it started its journey in Russia. It was escorted to a port near the southern city of Marseille.
Ship tracking websites MarineTraffic and VesselFinder said the vessel had been flying a Comoros flag.
The ship is suspected of being part of a shadow fleet that carries oil for countries such as Russia and Iran in violation of US sanctions.
“The tanker Grinch is leaving French waters after paying several million euros and enduring a costly three-week immobilization in Fos-sur-Mer,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X.
Russia has reportedly built up a flotilla of old tankers of opaque ownership to get around sanctions imposed by the European Union, the United States and the G7 group of nations, over Moscow’s 2022 all-out invasion of Ukraine.
The sanctions, aimed at limiting Moscow’s revenues to pursue its war, have shut out many tankers carrying Russian oil from Western insurance and shipping systems.
“Evading European sanctions comes at a price. Russia will no longer be able to bankroll its war with impunity through a shadow fleet off our shores,” Barrot said.
The public prosecutor’s office and regional authorities said that, “as part of a guilty plea procedure, the company that owns the vessel was sentenced by the Marseille judicial court to a financial penalty.”
“The company, which has already taken numerous steps in this direction, has committed to obtaining a new flag as soon as possible,” they said in a joint statement, without adding where the owner was based.
A ship called Grinch is under UK sanctions, while another named Carl with the same registration number is sanctioned by the United States and European Union.
The boarding last month was the second of its kind in recent months.
France in September detained a Russian-linked ship called the Boracay, a vessel claiming to be flagged in Benin, a move Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned as “piracy.”
The Boracay’s Chinese captain is to stand trial in France next week.
The European Union lists 598 vessels suspected of being part of the “shadow fleet” that are banned from European ports and maritime services.
