Chinese government urges restraint after N. Korea missile launch
BEIJING -- North Korean state television's most famous news anchor triumphantly announced what the country called an historic event after it launched an intercontinental ballistic missile -- and not shortly after the Chinese government urged restraint.
A foreign ministry spokesperson said North Korea should stop violating Security Council resolutions but in an apparent reference to the United States said all "relevant sides" should "bring things back to the track of peaceful settlement via dialogue."
President Trump took a much different approach tweeting late Monday night: "Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!"
China feels it has already done enough to try and rein in its ally. It stopped buying coal from North Korea and has cut its oil and diesel exports to Kim Jong Un's regime.
Tong Zhao is an expert on nuclear weapons policy in Asia who spoke with CBS News.
"I don't think on the Chinese side there is any room for significantly tougher sanctions," Zhao said.
We asked Zhao about whether there is a perception in the U.S. that China is simply not trying hard enough and not putting enough pressure on North Korea.
"China doesn't think that's a fair understanding of the situation," he told us. "If China steps up its sanctions, it's totally possible that North Korea will increase its threat to China."
China has been unwilling to entirely cut off crude oil supplies to North Korea because that would likely cause the North Korean regime to collapse. China fears that it would leave Kim Jong Un with nothing to lose and could start a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula.
