China’s Dilemmas Over Stalled North Korean Denuclearization Talks
Tong Zhao | Panel on Peace and Security of Northeast Asia
As North Korea continues to stall talks with the United States and South Korea, there is a greater need for China to play a more assertive role to help break the impasse. However, Beijing’s efforts to promote sanction relief for Pyongyang when it is unclear what North Korea will do about its nuclear programs make people wonder about Chinese objectives. This essay first analyzes Chinese views about North Korea’s commitment to denuclearization, and then discusses the main perceived interests that may inform Chinese deliberations of goals and approaches to denuclearization talks. Despite the competing pressures behind China’s policy, the essay offers steps that Beijing can take to bridge its near-term and long-term policy gap, help move forward the deadlocked denuclearization talks, and work with other players to preemptively defuse a looming crisis as North Korea resumes provocative behavior.
UN Nuclear Watchdog Admonishes Iran for Denying Access to Two Sites
Reuters
The U.N. watchdog policing Iran’s nuclear deal with major powers admonished Tehran on Tuesday for failing to provide access to two undeclared locations or fully answer its questions about past activities there. “Iran has not provided access to the agency to two locations...and not engaged in substantive discussions to clarify agency questions related to possible undeclared nuclear material and nuclear-related activities,” the second International Atomic Energy Agency report said. “The director general calls on Iran to immediately cooperate fully with the agency, including by providing prompt access to the locations specified,” said the confidential report seen by Reuters. The report added that Iran had informed the IAEA that it “will not recognize any allegation on past activities and does not consider itself obliged to respond to such allegations”.
North Korea Fires Two Projectiles in First Launches for Three Months
Justin McCurry | Guardian
North Korea fired two short-range projectiles on Monday, the South Korean military said, in the first launches by the regime for more than three months. The two devices were fired over the sea from the Wonsan area on the east coast, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. They flew 240km (150 miles) and reached an altitude of 35km before landing in the sea dividing the Korean peninsula and Japan, the JCS added. Japan’s defence ministry said it has not detected any projectile landing in Japanese territory or its exclusive economic zone, adding that there were no reports of damage to ships or aircraft in the area. The launches are the first North Korea has conducted since the end of November, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, and come weeks after Pyongyang declared its moratorium on long-range missile tests over. The North appears to be continuing military drills that the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un oversaw last Friday, JCS said. The exercises are designed to test the combat readiness of units in frontline and eastern areas, North Korea media said.
Don’t Leave the Open Skies Treaty, Top Democrats Say
Joe Gould | Defense News
If President Donald Trump withdraws the U.S. from the Open Skies Treaty, it would “harm both U.S. and allied security interests,” two top Senate Democrats told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday. Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Bob Menendez and Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Jack Reed told Pompeo in a letter that the treaty will still allow Russia to fly over U.S. installations in Europe, leaving the U.S. at a disadvantage, as it won’t have “the oversight or influence over the technical specifications of the data gathered” during the flights. The U.S. has yet to make a determination on whether to remain in the Open Skies arms control agreement, which allows mutual reconnaissance flights over its 34 members, including the U.S. and Russia. Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Mark Esper warned that America “can’t continue” to tolerate Russian “noncompliance” with the treaty ― the latest jab in a running quarrel between the two nuclear powers.
Trump Willing to Meet Leaders of Russia, China, Britain, France on Arms Control
Steve Holland | Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump is willing to hold a summit with the leaders of Russia, China, Britain and France - the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - to discuss arms control, a senior administration official said on Friday. Trump wants to use the meeting to try to make progress on a three-way arms control deal with Russia and China, the official said. The timing for a summit was unclear. “The United States will use this opportunity to bring both Russia and China into the international arms control framework and head off a costly arms race,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised the idea of a summit of what is known as the P5 to discuss a variety of global issues. Neither Russia nor China are members of the Group of Seven nations that will hold their annual summit in Camp David, Maryland, this year. The official would not speculate on where a P5 summit would be held, but one logical option could be the U.N. General Assembly, where world leaders gather annually in September.
Strategic Command Boss Warns of Nuclear ‘Point of No Return”
Aaron Mehta | Defense News
An aggressive modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal must be funded by Congress in the coming years, or the Department of Defense risks losing its strategic capabilities in the long term, a top American general warned Thursday. “If we do not invest smartly in our nuclear enterprise now, we may begin to reach points of no return,” said Adm. Chas Richard, the head of U.S. Strategic Command. “I predict [that will] start in the nuclear weapons complex, next in the nuclear command and control, and finally in the triad delivery systems. “When we talk about the modernization of the triad, what we leave out is the ‘or else.’ The other choice is not to keep what we have. The entire triad is reaching the end of its useful life. Either we replace what we have now, or start to divest, almost on a path to disarmament, in the face of this growing threat.” Richard, speaking to members of the House Armed Services Committee’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee about the department’s budget request, also warned that delays in funding key modernization efforts could “result in our need to rebuild, nearly from scratch, over one or more decades, our enterprise talent and infrastructure required to be a nuclear power.”