WH Denies China's Abstention in UN Vote on Syria Linked to Currency Manipulation

China’s abstention in the UN Security Council vote on Wednesday on a draft resolution concerning the chemical attack in Syria was not a result of a tradeoff with US President Donald Trump to drop claims of alleged currency manipulation, a senior White House official said according to press pool report.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Earlier on Wednesday, media reported that Trump had claimed China's currency manipulation had stopped.

"Both decisions were made on the merits of those decisions, separately," the official said. "There was no linkage that I’m aware of between those issues."

Russia and Bolivia voted against the draft resolution while China, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan abstained from the vote.

The official added that China’s decision to abstain from voting indicates that the government of Syrian president Bashar Assad is isolated internationally.

Relations between China and the United States became tense after Trump's communications with Taiwan upon his inauguration, the independence of which is not recognized by China, as well as because of Trump's criticism of China on its military buildup in the South China Sea and currency manipulations.