Tag Archives: Tensions

NATO offers to broker compromise in Turkish-German stand-off

FILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Angela Merkel greets Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the beginning of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Bernd Von Jutrczenka/POOL/File Photo

By Paul Carrel and Robin Emmott

BERLIN (Reuters) – NATO’s secretary general is offering to broker a visit by German lawmakers to troops serving on a Turkish air base in an attempt to heal a rift between the two allies which is disrupting anti-Islamic State operations.

The mediation offer by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, announced on Monday, came as Ankara itself sought to limit the economic fallout from the damaging row with Berlin, dropping a request for Germany to help it investigate hundreds of German companies it said could have links to terrorism.

Germany has become increasingly worried by President Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown on the Turkish opposition since a coup attempt last year – concerns made more acute by the arrest this month of six human rights activists, including one German.

Adding to tensions is Turkey’s refusal to let German members of parliament visit soldiers stationed at two air bases. For historical reasons, Germany’s soldiers answer to parliament and Berlin insists lawmakers have access to them.

This has already led Germany to move troops involved in the campaign against Islamic State from Turkey’s Incirlik base to Jordan. The risk of further decampments has sparked deep concern in NATO and now prompted it to intervene.

“The Secretary General has now offered to arrange a visit for parliamentarians to Konya airfield within a NATO framework,” alliance spokesman Piers Cazalet said on Monday. “Konya airfield is vital for NATO operations in support of Turkey and the Counter-ISIS Coalition.”

With Germany Ankara’s largest export market and home to a three million strong Turkish diaspora, it is in Turkey’s economic interests to resolve the row. The swift deterioration in relations threatens to damage deep-rooted human and economic ties.

CLOSE TIES

Germany has warned its nationals traveling to Turkey that they do so at their own risk, and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Erdogan was “jeopardizing the centuries-old partnership”.

Stepping back from confrontation, Turkey’s interior minister on Monday told his German counterpart that Ankara’s submission to Interpol of a list of nearly 700 German companies suspected of backing terrorism had stemmed from “a communications problem”.

Turkey had merely asked Interpol for information regarding the exports of 40 Turkish companies with alleged links to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed for the failed putsch last July, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said. He promised that Turkey would remain a “safe haven” for foreign investors.

Germany’s DIHK Chambers of Industry and Commerce said firms remained uncertain about doing business in Turkey, from which Germany bought $14 billion worth of goods in 2016.

“I hear it a lot: if the political environment does not improve, if legal certainty is in question, then there will hardly be a recovery in new investments by German firms (in Turkey),” DIHK foreign trade chief Volker Treier said.

(Additional reporting by Rene Wagner in Berlin, Robin Emmott in Brussels and Ece Toksabay in Ankara, writing by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

Turkey seeks to cool row with Germany as Berlin reviews arms requests

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble arrives to attend an European Union finance ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium, July 11, 2017. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

By Orhan Coskun and Michelle Martin

BERLIN (Reuters) – Turkey’s economy minister sought to calm rising tensions with Germany on Friday as Berlin said it was reviewing all applications for arms projects from Ankara.

Tensions between the NATO allies have escalated since Turkey arrested six human rights activists including German national Peter Steudtner on accusations of terrorism; but relations have been strained over a series of often bitter disputes this year.

Turkey’s economy minister told Reuters he believed the Turkey-Germany crisis was temporary.

“One must refrain from words that would cause lasting harm…to the economies,” Nihat Zeybekci said in an interview. “Germany must reassess comments that are inappropriate.”

But Germany said almost immediately afterwards it would review Turkish applications for arms projects.

“We’re checking all applications,” an Economy Ministry spokeswoman said.

That means the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (Bafa) probably cannot issue new export approvals; but projects already agreed will not be affected initially as no international sanctions have been imposed on Turkey.

In 2016 the German government exported armaments worth 83.9 million euros to Turkey. In the first four months of 2017, business worth 22 million euros was approved – for deliveries for the navy and for joint projects with other NATO partners.

Germany has warned Germans traveling to Turkey that they do so at their own peril. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted as comparing Turkey with the former communist East German state – the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

“Turkey now makes arbitrary arrests and no longer sticks to minimum consular standards. That reminds me of how it was in the GDR,” he told the mass-circulation Bild newspaper.

Schaeuble said those who traveled to the former Communist East before it collapsed in 1990 were aware that “if something happens to you, no one can help you”.

TURKISH SECRET SERVICES

German officials have complained they have not had full consular access to Steudtner, who was arrested with five others and accused of “terrorism” – an allegation Berlin has dismissed as absurd. Another German citizen was arrested on charges of links to terrorism earlier this year.

The arrests were part of a broader crackdown across Turkish society since a failed coup last July.

Germany’s domestic security chief expressed concern about increased activities of Turkey’s secret service and the growth of militant groups among the three million people with Turkish roots living on German soil.

“We know about the Turkish government’s influence on the Turkish community here in Germany,” BfV president Hans-Georg Maassen told local newspaper Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung.

Maassen named as an example charges being made against supporters of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating Turkey’s failed coup last July. He also said there were attempts to “intimidate those with Turkish roots if they are against President (Tayyip) Erdogan”.

German authorities barred Turkish ministers in March from speaking at mass rallies of expatriates supporting Erdogan’s campaign for broader presidential powers. Erdogan responded by accusing Berlin of “fascist actions”.

More than 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from jobs in Turkey’s civil service, military and private sector in the purges that followed the attempted putsch in 2016. More than 50,000 people have been jailed.

Rights groups and some Western governments say Erdogan is using the crackdown as a pretext to quash dissent. The Turkish government says the measures are necessary given the gravity of the security threat it faces.

Die Zeit newspaper reported this week that Turkish authorities had several weeks ago handed Berlin a list of 68 German companies, including Daimler and BASF that they accused of having links to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for orchestrating the coup.

Zeybekci said Germany’s behavior in cautioning its citizens over travel to Turkey was “unfortunate”, but he did not see harm accruing to tourism.

So far this year, bookings from Germany have accounted for some 10 percent of Turkey’s tourists.

Last year, the number of foreign visitors to Turkey fell 30 percent amid a spate of bombings by Kurdish and Islamist militants, the lowest in nine years. The travel sector contributes about $30 billion to the economy in a normal year.

Commercial links are close.

Germany was also Turkey’s top export destination in 2016, buying $14 billion worth of Turkish goods. It was also the second biggest source of Turkish imports, at $21.5 billion. Only China, at $25.4 billion, exported more to Turkey.

German news broadcaster n-tv said it would no longer run adverts that aimed to attract investment in Turkey.

(Writing by Paul Carrel; editing by Ralph Boulton)

Qatar crisis strains Saudi-led Arab alliance in Yemen war

Soldiers and members of the Popular Resistance militiamen backing Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi walk as they head to the frontline of fighting against forces of Houthi rebels in Makhdara area of Marib province, Yemen June 28, 2017. Picture taken June 28, 2017. REUTERS/Ali Owidha

By Aziz El Yaakoubi

DUBAI (Reuters) – A crisis between Qatar and four Arab countries is straining a Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s government in a two-year war against Iranian-aligned Houthis and slowing the alliance’s military advances.

At the heart of the crisis is the accusation that Qatar supports the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that coalition mainstays Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have designated a terrorist group.

But Yemen’s government is packed with supporters of the Islah party, an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood, threatening the unity of the alliance which has already been weakened by the withdrawal of Qatar’s forces after the row erupted on June 5.

“The Gulf rift has cast a shadow on the government and could split it as ministers linked to Islah sympathize with Qatar,” a senior official in the Yemeni government, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

The coalition is seeking to restore the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and backs forces fighting Houthi rebels and troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Fighting near the Red Sea port city of al-Mokha, where a UAE-backed offensive was being prepared on the port of Hodeidah which handles most of Yemeni food imports, has slowed.

“The fighting has been frozen since the start of the dispute with Qatar, which reflects the extent of the UAE concerns over the strength of Islah in the province,” a local official told Reuters. UAE officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Saudi Arabia currently hosts the exiled Yemeni government which includes five cabinet ministers from the Islah party. The chief of staff also belongs to Islah and Vice President Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar is a close Islah ally.

TRIBESMEN, SOLDIERS CRITICAL

The party also has thousands of followers fighting against the Houthi forces who control the capital Sanaa with Saleh loyalists. Unusually in Yemen’s fractured political landscape, Islah has supporters in the north and south of the country.

Since the Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015, Islah has tried to distance itself from the Brotherhood, in deference to the government-in-exile’s Saudi hosts. The coalition depends heavily on Islah fighters on the ground.

“Whatever Saudi Arabia’s current view of the Muslim Brotherhood in other countries, in Yemen they are natural allies against the Houthi-Saleh alliance,” April Longley Alley, a senior Arabian Peninsula analyst for the International Crisis Group (ICG) said.

“In many fighting fronts in the north, tribesmen or soldiers associated with Islah are a critical, if not the most important, part of the anti-Houthi fighting force.”

Saudi officials were not immediately available for comment.

The Brotherhood has posed a big challenge to Arab rulers in the Middle East, where it has built a strong base opposed to the principle of dynastic rule.

While Qatar has supported the movement, Gulf monarchies and emirates, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have spent billions trying to prevent the Brotherhood holding power in the Arab world since 2011 uprisings swept the region.

UAE UNCOMFORTABLE

The UAE, a crucial member of the coalition and which is more hostile to the Brotherhood than other members, appears to have been the most uncomfortable about its military fighting alongside Brotherhood-linked Islah forces.

The UAE has also built a southern army that remains under the influence of southern Yemeni politicians who are hostile to the Brotherhood’s ideology and want to break with the north.

On the frontlines in the south, the offensive against the Houthis and Saleh forces has slowed down because of the UAE position on Islah, local officials said. UAE officials were not available to comment.

Fighting in the two strategic provinces of Taiz and Marib has halted for more than a month, except for occasional air strikes and naval shelling on the rebels.

Cracks in the Yemeni government on the Qatar crisis were highlighted when the quarrel broke out with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates imposing travel and diplomatic sanctions on Qatar.

Yemen’s government rushed to express solidarity with Qatar on the state news agency website. Within two hours that message of support was wiped off. The next day the government cut ties with Doha, falling into line with Saudi and the others.

(Reporting By Aziz El Yaakoubi; editing by Sami Aboudi)

U.S. Navy chief asks Chinese counterpart for help on North Korea

Chief of U.S. Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson poses after speaking to reporters on the pier of the USS Coronado, a littoral combat ship, at the Changi Naval Base in Singapore, May 16, 2017. REUTERS/Himani Sarkar

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Navy’s top officer asked his Chinese counterpart to exert influence on North Korea to help rein in its advancing nuclear and missile programs, a U.S. official said on Thursday.

Chief of U.S. Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson spoke with his Chinese counterpart Vice Admiral Shen Jinlong via a video teleconference.

“Richardson voiced his concern about the nuclear and missile programs and emphasized that China should use its unique influence over North Korea,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The call lasted for an hour and the two talked about the need to “work together to address the provocative and unacceptable military behavior by North Korea,” the U.S. Navy said in a statement.

Last month U.S. President Donald Trump said Chinese efforts to persuade North Korea had failed.

Trump has hoped for greater help from China to exert influence over North Korea, leaning heavily on Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders had a high-profile summit in Florida in April and Trump has frequently praised Xi while resisting criticism of Chinese trade practices.

North Korea recently said it conducted its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, and that it had mastered the technology to mount a nuclear warhead on the missile.

The United States has remained technically at war with North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty. The past six decades have been punctuated by periodic rises in antagonism as well as rhetoric that has stopped short of a resumption of active hostilities.

Tensions rose sharply after North Korea conducted two nuclear weapons tests last year and carried out a steady stream of ballistic missile tests.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

In shadow of crackdown, Turkey commemorates failed coup

People wave Turkey's national flags as they arrive to attend a ceremony marking the first anniversary of the attempted coup at the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey July 15, 2017. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

By Tuvan Gumrukcu

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan and members of the opposition came together on Saturday to mark the anniversary of last year’s failed coup, in a moment of ceremonial unity all but overshadowed by the sweeping purges that have shaken society since.

The gathering in parliament was one of the first in a string of events planned through the weekend to commemorate the night of July 15, when thousands of unarmed civilians took to the streets to defy rogue soldiers who commandeered tanks and warplanes and bombed parliament in an attempt to seize power.

More than 240 people died before the coup was put down, a show of popular defiance that has likely ended decades of military interference in Turkish politics.

But along with a groundswell of nationalism, the coup’s greatest legacy has been the far-reaching crackdown.

Some 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from jobs in the civil service and private sector and more than 50,000 detained for alleged links to the putsch. On Friday, the government said it had dismissed another 7,000 police, civil servants and academics for suspected links to the Muslim cleric it blames for the putsch.

“Our people did not leave sovereignty to their enemies and took hold of democracy to the death,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, as Erdogan and members of opposition parties looked on. “These monsters will surely receive the heaviest punishment they can within the law.”

Critics, including rights groups and some Western governments, say that Erdogan is using the state of emergency introduced after the coup to target opposition figures including rights activists, pro-Kurdish politicians and journalists.

The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) was represented by its deputy chairman as the party’s two co-leaders are in jail – as are local members of rights group Amnesty International and nearly 160 journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

‘JUSTICE DESTROYED’

At the parliamentary ceremony, the head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) decried what he said was the erosion of democracy following the coup.

“This parliament, which withstood bombs, has been rendered obsolete and its authority removed,” said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, in a reference to an April referendum that Erdogan narrowly won, giving him sweeping executive powers.

“In the past year, justice has been destroyed. Instead of rapid normalization, a permanent state of emergency has been implemented.”

Kilicdaroglu this month finished a 25-day, 425 km (265 mile) “justice march” from Ankara to Istanbul, to protest the detention of a CHP lawmaker. The march, although largely ignored by the pro-government media, culminated in a massive rally in Istanbul against the crackdown.

In the run-up to the anniversary of July 15, Turkish media has been saturated by coverage from last year’s coup, with some channels showing almost constant footage of young men and even headscarved mothers facing down armed soldiers and tanks in Istanbul.

One man, 20-year-old Ismet Dogan, said he and his friends took to the streets of Istanbul the night of the coup after they heard the call from Erdogan to defy the soldiers. He was shot in both legs by soldiers, he told the website of broadcaster TRT Haber.

“My friends and I said, ‘We have one nation, if we are to die, let’s do it like men’,” he said. “Everyone who was there with me had come there to die. Nobody was afraid of death.”

(Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Iran blames Trump for instability, rejects ‘rogue’ label

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the death anniversary of the founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in Tehran, Iran, June 4, 2017. TIMA via REUTERS

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran on Saturday blamed what it called Donald Trump’s “arbitrary and conflicting policies” for global security threats, rejecting the U.S. president’s description of Tehran as a rogue state.

Tensions between Iran and the United States have heightened since the election of Trump, who has often singled out Tehran as a key backer of militant groups.

“(Trump) ought to seek the reason for subversion and rebellion in his own arbitrary and conflicting policies and actions, as well as those of his arrogant, aggressive and occupying allies in the region,” said foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi, quoted by Iran’s state news agency IRNA.

President Trump said on Thursday that new threats were emerging from “rogue regimes like North Korea, Iran and Syria and the governments that finance and support them”.

Senior Iranian officials have blamed U.S-allied Saudi Arabia, Iran’s Sunni Muslim regional rival, for instability and attacks in the Middle East, including last month’s assaults that killed 18 people in Tehran.

Saudi Arabia has denied involvement in the attacks which were claimed by Islamic state.

While Trump has kept up his criticism of Tehran, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday that the president was “very likely” to state that Iran is adhering to its nuclear agreement with world powers although he continues to have reservations about it.

(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Stephen Powell)

Asserting sovereignty, Indonesia renames part of South China Sea

Indonesia's Deputy Minister for Maritime Affairs Arif Havas Oegroseno points at the location of North Natuna Sea on a new map of Indonesia during talks with reporters in Jakarta, Indonesia, July 14, 2017. REUTERS/Beawiharta

By Tom Allard and Bernadette Christina Munthe

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia renamed the northern reaches of its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea as the North Natuna Sea on Friday, the latest act of resistance by Southeast Asian nations to China’s territorial ambitions in the maritime region.

Seen by analysts as an assertion of Indonesian sovereignty, part of the renamed sea is claimed by China under its contentious maritime boundary, known as the ‘nine-dash line’, that encompasses most of the resource-rich sea.

Several Southeast Asian states dispute China’s territorial claims and are competing with China to exploit the South China Sea’s abundant hydrocarbon and fishing resources. China has raised the ante by deploying military assets on artificial islands constructed on shoals and reefs in disputed parts of the sea.

Indonesia insists it’s a non-claimant state in the South China Sea dispute but has clashed with China over fishing rights around the Natuna Islands, detaining Chinese fishermen and expanding its military presence in the area over the past 18 months.

Unveiling the new official map, the deputy of maritime sovereignty at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Arif Havas Oegroseno, noted the northern side of its exclusive economic zone was the site of oil and gas activity.

“We want to update the naming of the sea [and] we gave a new name in line with the usual practice: the North Natuna Sea,” he told reporters.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said he didn’t know anything about the details of the issue, but said the name South China Sea had broad international recognition and clear geographic limits.

“Certain countries’ so-called renaming is totally meaningless,” he told a daily news briefing. “We hope the relevant country can meet China halfway and properly maintain the present good situation in the South China Sea region, which has not come easily.”

‘CLEAR MESSAGE’

I Made Andi Arsana, an expert on the Law of the Sea from Indonesia’s Universitas Gadjah Mada, said the renaming carried no legal force but was a political and diplomatic statement.

“It will be seen as a big step by Indonesia to state its sovereignty,” he told Reuters. “It will send a clear message, both to the Indonesian people and diplomatically speaking.”

Euan Graham, director of the international security program at the Lowy Institute, said Indonesia’s action followed renewed resistance to Chinese territorial claims by other Southeast Asian states.

“This will be noticed in Beijing,” he said.

Last week, Vietnam extended an Indian oil concession off its coast while a joint venture led by state-owned PetroVietnam commenced drilling further south. China has a territorial claim in both areas.

Meanwhile, the director of the Philippines Energy Resource Development Bureau, Ismael Ocampo, said on Wednesday that the country could lift a suspension on oil and gas drilling on the Reed Bank by December. The underwater mountain, lying 85 nautical miles off the Philippines coast, is also claimed by China.

Exploration activity was suspended in late 2014 as the Philippines sought an international ruling on China’s territorial claim. The Philippines won the case in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague one year ago.

China refused to recognize the decision. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office on June 30 last year, expressed reluctance about enforcing the decision at the time, as he sought deeper diplomatic and economic ties with China.

However, the Philippines lately has become more assertive about its sovereignty.

More than two dozen oil, gas and coal blocks, including additional areas in disputed waters, may be offered during the December bidding, Ocampo said on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Tom Allard and Bernadette Christina Munthe; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

Arab states seek to step up pressure on Qatar over 2013 accord

FILE PHOTO: An aerial view of Doha's diplomatic area March 21, 2013. REUTERS/Fadi Al-Assaad/File Photo

DUBAI (Reuters) – Four Arab states sought on Monday to pile pressure on Qatar over charges it backs terrorism, saying the publication of a previously secret accord between Riyadh and Doha showed Qatar broke a promise not to meddle in the affairs of Gulf countries.

The text of the 2013 accord, whose existence was known but whose contents have never before been made public, was first published by CNN on Monday and later released on social media by Saudi officials.

In a joint statement, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said the publication of the accord, meant to settle a dispute between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors, “confirms beyond any doubt Qatar’s failure to meet its commitments and its full violation of its pledges”.

Amid fresh tension with Qatar, the four slapped sanctions on Doha on June 5, accusing it of supporting terrorism, cozying up to Iran, backing the Muslim Brotherhood – the world’s oldest Islamist organization – and interference in their affairs.

The four say Qatar pledged to desist from interfering in its neighbors’ politics in the 2013 agreement.

Qatar has rejected the charges and said the four countries are trying to impose their own views on its foreign policies.

The document surfaced as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in the region to help Washington’s allies hammer out a way out of the crisis.

In response, Qatar accused Saudi Arabia and the UAE of breaking the spirit of the Riyadh agreement and engaging in an “unwarranted and unprecedented attack on Qatar’s sovereignty”.

The Riyadh accord aimed to enhance cooperation between sovereign Gulf Arab states and avoid interference in their internal affairs, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) said.

Kuwaiti mediation efforts hit a snag last week when the four Arab states said they were disappointed with Qatar’s response to their list of 13 demands.

MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD

Qatar said the demands, which included ending support for militant groups, the closure of the Al Jazeera TV channel, shutting down a Turkish military base in Qatar and downgrading ties with Iran, were an infringement of its sovereignty.

QNA reported Sheikh Saif Bin Ahmed Al-Thani, director of Qatar’s government communications, as saying the 13 demands bore no relation to the Riyadh accord and the latest crisis was the result of a coordinated media campaign against Qatar.

“Some of the allegations and demands of the siege countries have no basis, while others were an unwarranted and unprecedented attack on the sovereignty of the state of Qatar in violation to all international and regional agreements.”

The 2013 agreement, reached at a meeting in Riyadh hosted by the then Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, was signed by the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, while an implementation mechanism was signed by the six GCC foreign ministers.

In the document, the parties agreed to refrain from backing any “political currents that pose a threat to any member country of the (Gulf Cooperation) Council”, and provided for Muslim Brotherhood leaders who are non-GCC citizens to leave the area.

(Reporting by Sami Aboudi; Editing by James Dalgleish and Clarence Fernandez)

China says ‘China responsibility theory’ on North Korea has to stop

The intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-14 is seen in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang July 5, 2017. KCNA/via REUTERS

BEIJING (Reuters) – China hit back on Tuesday in unusually strong terms at repeated calls from the United States to put more pressure on North Korea, urging a halt to what it called the “China responsibility theory”, and saying all parties needed to pull their weight.

U.S President Trump took a more conciliatory tone at a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday, but he has expressed some impatience that China, with its close economic and diplomatic ties to Pyongyang, is not doing enough to rein in North Korea.

That feeling has become particularly acute since Pyongyang launched an intercontinental ballistic missile that some experts believe could have the range to reach Alaska, and parts of the U.S. West Coast.

Asked about calls from the United States, Japan and others for China to put more pressure on North Korea, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said it was not China ratcheting up tension and the key to a resolution did not lie with Beijing.

“Recently, certain people, talking about the Korean peninsula nuclear issue, have been exaggerating and giving prominence to the so-called ‘China responsibility theory,'” Geng told a daily news briefing, without naming any parties.

“I think this either shows lack of a full, correct knowledge of the issue, or there are ulterior motives for it, trying to shift responsibility,” he added.

China has been making unremitting efforts and has played a constructive role, but all parties have to meet each other half way, Geng said.

“Asking others to do work, but doing nothing themselves is not OK,” he added. “Being stabbed in the back is really not OK.”

While China has been angered by North Korea’s repeated nuclear and missile tests, it also blames the United States and South Korea for worsening tension with their military exercises.

China has been upset with the U.S. deployment of an advanced anti-missile system in South Korea too, which it says threatens its own security and will do nothing to ease tensions.

Additionally, Beijing has complained about Washington putting unilateral sanctions on Chinese companies and individuals for their dealings with North Korea.

Geng questioned how China’s efforts could bear fruit if, while it tried to put out the flames, others added oil to the fire, and if, while it enforced U.N. resolutions, others harmed its interests.

Everyone needed to accept their responsibilities to get the North Korea issue back on the correct track of a peaceful resolution through talks, he added.

“The ‘China responsibility theory’ on the peninsula nuclear issue can stop,” Geng said.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Exclusive: U.S. plans to test THAAD missile defenses as North Korea tensions mount

A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor is seen in Seongju, South Korea, June 13, 2017. Picture taken on June 13, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States plans to carry out a new test of its THAAD missile defense system against an intermediate-range ballistic missile in the coming days, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday, as tensions with North Korea climb.

Despite being planned months ago, the U.S. missile defense test will gain significance in the wake of North Korea’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on July 4 that has heightened concerns about the threat from Pyongyang.

The test will be the first of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) to defend against a simulated attack by an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), one of the officials said. The THAAD interceptors will be fired from Alaska.

The United States has THAAD interceptors in Guam that are meant to help guard against a missile attack from a country such as North Korea.

The officials who disclosed to Reuters the precise nature and timing of the upcoming test spoke on condition of anonymity.

Asked by Reuters, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) confirmed that it aimed to carry out a THAAD flight test “in early July.”

Chris Johnson, an MDA spokesman, said the THAAD weapon system at the Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska in Kodiak, Alaska, would “detect, track and engage a target with a THAAD interceptor.”

“The test is designated as Flight Test THAAD (FTT)-18,” Johnson said. He did not elaborate.

Still, in recent testimony to Congress, Vice Admiral James Syring, then the director of the Missile Defense Agency, said FTT-18 would aim to demonstrate THAAD’s ability to intercept a separating IRBM target.

MDA said THAAD had a 100 percent successful track record in its 13 flight tests since 2006. After previous tests, the U.S. military has publicly disclosed the results.

SOUTH KOREAN DEPLOYMENT

THAAD is a ground-based missile defense system designed to shoot down short-, medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

Lockheed Martin Corp, the prime contractor for the THAAD system, said it has the ability to intercept incoming missiles both inside and outside the Earth’s atmosphere.

This year’s U.S. deployment of THAAD in South Korea to guard against North Korea’s shorter-range missiles has also drawn fierce criticism from China, which says the system’s powerful radar can probe deep into its territory.

Earlier this month Moscow and Beijing, in a joint statement, called on Washington to immediately halt deployment of THAAD in South Korea.

The statement said Washington was using North Korea as a pretext to expand its military infrastructure in Asia and risked upsetting the strategic balance of power in the region.

THAAD’s success rate in testing is far higher than the one for America’s Ground-based Midcourse Defense system (GMD), the system specifically designed to shoot down an ICBM headed for the U.S. mainland.

That GMD system has only a 55 percent success rate over the life of the program. But advocates note that the technology has improved dramatically in recent years.

In a key development, the GMD system successfully shot down an incoming, simulated North Korean ICBM in a test in May.

That led the Pentagon to upgrade its assessment of America’s ability to defend against a small number of ICBMs, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

MDA told Congress in June that it plans to deliver 52 more THAAD interceptors to the U.S. Army between October 2017 and September 2018, for a total of 210 since May 2011.

In a sign of U.S. congressional concern about missile defense, several lawmakers filed amendments to a sweeping defense policy bill on Friday that addressed North Korea. Republican Representative Don Young, whose home state Alaska is seen as especially vulnerable to the North Korea threat, asked for more ground-based interceptors for his state, and a study of potential additional sites on the East Coast or Midwest.

Democratic Representatives John Conyers and Sheila Jackson Lee, along with Republican Walter Jones, filed an amendment to the annual National Defense Authorization Act saying that nothing in the bill should be construed as authorizing the use of force against North Korea.

The full House of Representatives is due to consider the bill, and its amendments, next week.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and James Dalgleish)