Apparently CTH and Asian expert Gordon Chang are on the same intellectual page in analysis of the ongoing North Korea issues.  In this interview Mr. Chang outlines the dynamic between U.S. President Trump, North Korean President Kim Jong-un and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Gordon Chang also agrees that mounting economic pressure on China will be the pathway to getting the DPRK into line.

.
The North Korean commentariat today has all been centered around a “response” to a precipitous strike by the United States. As previously outlined by Secretary Tillerson, via the “four no’s”, and backed up by the entire U.S. policy team, there is no intent on the U.S. to initiate a North Korean regime change. That leverage approach is China’s to utilize; while we hold China accountable.
(more…)

Well, many of us were waiting for this – and we have discovered exactly what most CTH readers anticipated, China is a paper tiger.
Last night China finally delivered the official communist government position outlining their perceived leverage over the U.S. and President Trump’s economic diplomacy and economic security platform.
China has always used The Global Times to communicate their official communist state positions.  Last night China delivered their warning; oh, you’re gonna love this:

“US needs correct logic in dealing with North Korea”.

[…] The US asks China for help when it cannot solve its problems with North Korea. Some US elites even want to urge China to claim full responsibility for the issue or they will threaten to retaliate. Under this logic, isn’t it reasonable for North Korea to attack its southern neighbor when it is under military threat from the US?
Moreover, those US elites may not have considered the leverage China has over the US. What if China restricts the usage of iPhones and the number of Chinese students to the US, or imports fewer US agricultural products? (link for more)

Now, it is critical to emphasize this is the official outlook of the Chinese Communist regime and what they perceive as their leverage over the United States.  This is the official outlook of the party apparatus behind Xi Jinping.
So let’s look at their position in sequence.
(more…)

State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert delivers the press briefing for August 9th, 2017.  The insufferable media gnats remain fixated on President Trump’s remarks about North Korea – remarks, combined with months of created leverage, that are actually delivering results.
After ignoring all of the action President Trump, Secretary Tillerson, Secretary Mnuchin, and Secretary Ross have taken to shape the geography; and without even seeing the leverage Trump has positioned on China, Russia and North Korea; the pool reporters are floating questions from a parallel universe called ‘bizarro world’.
Seriously, questions about possibly needing a new “diplomatic direction” are ridiculous against the backdrop of the greatest international diplomatic win in years happening only a few days ago with the 15-0 UNSC unanimous vote on North Korea sanctions.
U.S. journalists are embarrassing.

.
[Transcript will be added later]
(more…)

Speaking today in Garmisch-Partenkirchen Germany, Defense Secretary James Mattis gave a statement to the media before the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Marshall Plan at the George C. Marshall Center:

“The United States and our allies have the demonstrated capabilities and unquestionable commitment to defend ourselves from attack.

Kim Jong Un should take heed of the United Nations Security Council’s unified voice, and statements from governments the world over, who agree the DPRK poses a threat to global security and stability. The DPRK must choose to stop isolating itself and stand down its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

The DPRK should cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people.”

“President Trump was informed of the growing threat last December and on taking office his first orders to me emphasized the readiness of our ballistic missile defense and nuclear deterrent forces.

While our State Department is making every effort to resolve this global threat through diplomatic means, it must be noted that the combined allied militaries now posses the most precise, rehearsed, and robust defensive and offensive capabilities on earth. The DPRK regime’s actions will continue to be grossly over matched by ours and would lose any arms race or conflict it initiates.”

~ U.S. Secretary of Defense, General James Mattis

(more…)

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been engaged with Southeast Asian nations for the past five days during his trip to the ASEAN conference.  The issues surrounding North Korea took up most of the dialogue.  En route to Guam Secretary T-Rex holds a brief press conference aboard Air Force 2:

Responding to continued nuclear missile provocations from North Korea, and against the backdrop of a unanimous 15-0 Security Council U.N. resolution, today President Trump delivered the following strong remarks toward the DPRK and Kim Jong-Un.

U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley went into her full Mrs. Rubio mode earlier today as she took credit for single-handily bringing North Korea to heel. Apparently Secretary Tillerson and President Trump assisted Mrs. Rubio in achieving her policy objectives.

(more…)

Dr. Sebastian Gorka appears on Sean Hannity TV show to discuss the ongoing issues with North Korea and the latest developments with U.N. sanctions.

(more…)

We’ll see.  The red dragon has a tendency to say one thing publicly and manipulate another thing privately.  However, the baseline for China to take the role of Big Panda is the reception of Secretary Rex Tillerson’s “Four No” remarks on North Korea during his State Department briefing.

TILLERSON”S FOUR NO’S: The United States does not seek •regime change, •the collapse of the regime, •an accelerated reunification of the peninsula or •an excuse to send the U.S. military into North Korea.

So long as the ‘four-no’s’ remain visible and discussed in the international dialogue, the options for China are to comply or to be called out as a deceiving enabler.  The economic consequences for China to break the sanctions are looming and severely consequential.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China will pay the biggest price from the new United Nations sanctions against North Korea because of its close economic relationship with the country, but will always enforce the resolutions, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.
(more…)

Against the backdrop of successful U.N. Security Council resolution backed by China Russia, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivers a press briefing, statement and questions, surrounding his visit to A.S.E.A.N conference (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). The video is sketchy in parts – but the full transcript is below.

[TRANSCRIPT] SECRETARY TILLERSON: Good morning. Good morning, all. How’s everybody’s jet lag? Well, I thought I’d take a few minutes out of the series of events and give you a little bit of an oversight of what has already occurred and kind of what’s coming.
Obviously, high on the agenda in the time that we’ve been here has been the situation with the DPRK and North Korea. And I think the strong UN Security Council resolution unanimously approved, working in coordination with China and Russia both to put out a statement from the Security Council that I think is quite clear in terms of there being no daylight among the international community as to the expectation that North Korea will take steps to achieve all of our objectives, which is a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.
(more…)