Beijing Expects US to Refrain From Seeking Regime Change in N Korea

Beijing hopes that the United States will not issue a policy aimed at changing the regime in North Korea and stripping power from its current leader Kim Jong Un, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Friday at a press conference held in the follow-up to his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Chinese side expects Washington to keep its pledge that it would "not strive to achieve a change of power in North Korea," Wang said, adding that the United States has so far continued to stick to a peaceful settlement of the so-called North Korean "threat," an issue which is becoming more pressing with the increasing number of Pyongyang’s missile tests.

Wang noted that Tokyo had a "less positive stance" on the North Korean problem.

"We expect that Japan can and will act based on the interests of stability and safety in the region and will take positive and constructive stance," Wang stressed, adding that Beijing hoped that the Japanese side would not impede the negotiating process.

Russia and China have similar stances with regard to the North Korean threat, Wang underscored, specifying that both sides were calling on Pyongyang to abandon actions that violate existing UN Security Council resolutions.

Beijing believes that US decision to deploy its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea breaches the regional balance of power and undermines Chinese security interests. Most recently, Russian and Chinese deputy foreign ministers expressed their concern over the disproportionate US military activities on the Korean peninsula.

In turn, Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, the commander of the United States Forces Korea (USFK), said Thursday that the THAAD systems deployed in South Korea are used only to counter the North Korean threat. One day prior to the general's remarks, experts from the United States and Japan held their fifth annual Nonproliferation Dialogue in Tokyo to discuss ways to fully implement controls and UN resolutions to address the North Korean threat.