US, China agree to jointly address threats posed by NKorea

 China and the US today agreed to jointly address the threats posed by North Korea's provocative nuclear and missile programmes as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned that tensions in the region have spiked to "dangerous levels".

"We noted the efforts made in the last 20 years has not succeeded in curbing the threats posed by North Korea's illegal nuclear weapons programmes," Tillerson, who is on his first official visit to China, said after talks with his Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi here.

During his visit to South Korea yesterday, Tillerson had cautioned North Korea that all options are on the table to deal with Pyongyang's provocative actions.

US President Donald Trump had also put out a tweet criticising Beijing's role in dealing with North Korea.

"North Korea is behaving very badly. They have been 'playing' the United States for years. China has done little to help," Trump's tweet said.

Both Tillerson and Wang avoided direct response to Trump's tweet.
"We renewed our determination to work together to convince the North Korean government to choose a better path and different future for its people," Tillerson said.

He said Wang has agreed to work together with the US to see whether "we can bring the government in Pyongyang to a place where they want to make difference and a make course correction and move away from their development of nuclear weapons".

He said the common view is that tensions in the Korean peninsula are very high and things have reached "dangerous levels".

Tillerson affirmed China and the US' commitment to prevent further escalation of tension in the region.

He said issues related to the disputed South China Sea where Trump administration has criticised Beijing's island building were also discussed.

"I discussed the importance of rule-based order with freedom navigation and over flights and made clear that the US will continue to advocate for universal values human rights and religious freedom," he said.