China rejects US demand to cut oil exports to North Korea

Cui Tiankai, China’s ambassador to the US, told reporters at a briefing in Washington when asked if Beijing would cut oil shipments. Cui said: “Any further steps would need to be worked out with the agreement of the entire UN Security Council”. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said: China use its role as the main exporter of oil to North Korea to force Kim to abandon his nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes. Hours earlier, North Korea had launched a missile over Japan. Cui said the US, not China, needed to take more responsibility for the issue. They cannot just leave the issue to China alone and honestly I think the United States should be doing more, much more than now, so that there is real effective international cooperation on this issue, Cui said.