North Korean workers chat at each other near a window of North Korean Embassy in Beijing, Monday, Sept. 4, 2017. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Sunday shot back at North Korea's claimed test of a hydrogen bomb with a blunt threat, saying the U.S. will answer any threat from the North with a "massive military response — a response both effective and overwhelming." Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to halt all trade with countries doing business with the North, a veiled warning to China, and faulted South Korea for its "talk of appeasement."
Image Credit: (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
September 05, 2017 - 6:00 AM
BEIJING - China says President Donald Trump's threat to cut off trade with countries that deal with North Korea is unacceptable and unfair.
Trump said on Twitter on Sunday the United States is considering halting trade with "any country doing business with North Korea." His remarks came after North Korea detonated a thermonuclear device in its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.
Geng Shuang, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, told reporters at a briefing in Beijing on Monday that China regarded as "unacceptable a situation in which on the one hand we work to resolve this issue peacefully but on the other hand our own interests are subject to sanctions and jeopardized."
Geng said: "This is neither objective nor fair."
China is the North's closest ally and commercial partner.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017