U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held top-level talks in China on Saturday as the United States looks to tighten an economic squeeze aimed at persuading North Korea to retreat from its nuclear arms and missile programs.
Tillerson first met China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, before sitting down to talks with China’s top diplomat, State Counselor Yang Jiechi.
U.S. officials say Beijing appears increasingly willing to cut ties to North Korea’s economy by adopting U.N. sanctions, after long accounting for some 90 percent of its neighbor’s foreign trade.
The United States sees China as critical to averting a military confrontation with Pyongyang, which is fast advancing toward its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the United States.
