China slams Trump's 'irresponsible and absurd logic' on N. Korea

[DonViejo]

Source: France24/AFP


30 August 2018 - 10H40

BEIJING (AFP) -
China on Thursday derided the "irresponsible and absurd logic" of the United States after President Donald Trump accused Beijing of making Washington's relationship with North Korea more difficult.

Trump doubled down on his suggestion that China was not helping to rein in its Cold War-era ally -- a charge he first levelled when he cancelled a trip to North Korea by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that was due to take place this week.

"A lot of people, like me, feel that the US is first in the world when it comes to twisting the truth, and irresponsible and absurd logic," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing. "This logic is not easily understood by all," Hua said.

Trump's refusal to direct criticism at North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and instead blame other parties for a lack of progress comes despite reports the US received a belligerent letter from Pyongyang, which prompted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel a planned trip to North Korea last weekend.

Read more: https://www.france24.com/en/20180830-china-slams-trumps-irresponsible-absurd-logic-n-korea

[Achilleaze]

1. republicans have made American FIRST!

"A lot of people, like me, feel that the US is first in the world when it comes to twisting the truth, and irresponsible and absurd logic," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying

[Shipwack]

3. I wonder at the phrasing of that sentence...

Are they subtly mocking Trump? One of his favorite phrases he uses when he is talking out of his ass (more than usual) is "Many people are saying that..."

[hibbing]

2. Hey now, stop that, tiny hand tweeted that he solved it all n/t

[soryang]

4. It looks like Pompeo is getting the Tillerson treatment

The US ambassador to Seoul is a career military person, the recent commander of PACOM, Admiral Harry Harris. Initially, there was consternation at PACOM and USFK with respect to the suspension of the joint US South Korean exercises . Harris is viewed as chin il, in South Korea, or favoring Japan, and is not well regarded there. South Korean sources say Harris forwarded a letter by Trump dated Aug. 12, to Kim Jong Un via Panmunjum. Previously, Sang Kim, US ambassador to the Philippines delivered a letter from Trump to Kim via the North Korean Foreign Ministry representative at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting. After Vice Chairman Kim Yong Chol responded to Trump's last letter with a "hostile letter" Trump is pictured in the media with the team Pompeo assembled to negotiate with the North Koreans, the so called "working group," with Korean experts Andrew Kim, and Sang Kim. Yet they are just being used as messenger boys for the Donald. The Trump personal diplomacy is failing, and the people who know and understand North Korea negotiations are being bypassed while Harris' former boss, "Mad Dog" Mattis, the Secretary of Defense, and far right radical neocon John Bolton take charge.

Mattis follows up with the not so veiled threat to resume joint exercises with South Korea saying he'll wait for the "diplomats" to play their role and see what happens. Arirang News English on youtube reports the Blue House in S.Korea and the South Korean Ministry of National Defense were neither consulted nor notified about Mattis' big announcement. While the MSM discusses Mattis' remarks in terms of large military exercises next year, the large Vigilant Ace joint exercise in South Korea normally takes place in the first fiscal quarter. It last took place in December 2017.

I like the comment at the end of this Guardian article:

Vipin Narang, a politics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, described US strategy as being “in a state of total disarray”.

“Any work toward denuclearisation had to be preceded by trust/peace building,” he wrote in a Twitter post. “Trump wasn’t listening. And here we are.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/29/us-to-resume-war-games-as-north-korea-negotiations-stall

The Vox article yesterday is spot on:

Exclusive: Trump promised Kim Jong Un he’d sign an agreement to end the Korean War
He hasn’t followed through yet — and North Korea talks may have stalled because of it.
By Alex Ward

https://www.vox.com/2018/8/29/17795452/trump-north-korea-war-summit-singapore-promise