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China won’t confirm US claim of new pressure on North Korea

In this Wednesday, April 26, 2017 photo released by the U.S. Navy, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, center, leads the U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain, right front, and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Atago-class guided-missile destroyer JS Ashigara, left front, and the JMSDF Murasame-class destroyer JS Samidare during a transit of the Philippine Sea toward the Korean Peninsula for an exercise with South Korea. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sean M. Castellano/U.S. Navy via AP)
In this Wednesday, April 26, 2017 photo released by the U.S. Navy, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, center, leads the U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain, right front, and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Atago-class guided-missile destroyer JS Ashigara, left front, and the JMSDF Murasame-class destroyer JS Samidare during a transit of the Philippine Sea toward the Korean Peninsula for an exercise with South Korea. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sean M. Castellano/U.S. Navy via AP)

By Associated Press 1 min read

BEIJING (AP) – China’s foreign ministry on Friday refused to confirm or deny U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s assertion that Beijing has threatened to impose unilateral sanctions on North Korea if it conducts further nuclear tests.

Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang repeatedly avoided giving a direct answer when asked about the matter at a daily press briefing.

Tillerson said Thursday that China told the U.S. it had informed North Korea China would respond to a test by “taking sanctions actions on their own.”

China wants North Korea to end its nuclear weapons program, but has opposed unilateral sanctions imposed without a U.N. mandate.

Beijing has come under growing U.S. pressure to use its leverage as North Korea’s largest trading partner and main source of food and fuel aid to compel Pyongyang to heed U.N. resolutions.