On Friday 2 June, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, repeated that the European Union is counting on China to achieve peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
Tusk said that China and the EU share a common interest in peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, a de-escalation of tensions and in North Korea complying with its international obligations and abandoning all nuclear and ballistic missiles programs. “We count on China's continued support to achieve these objectives”, he told a press conference following the 19th EU-China summit, welcoming China's efforts in the North Korean dossier. For his part, the Chinese Prime Minister, Li Keqiang, explained that his country ultimately wished to resolve the problem through negotiations.
When asked about allegations that Chinese businesses had circumnavigated international sanctions against Pyongyang, the Chinese leader said that his country, which is a member of the United Nations Security Council, had always strictly applied UN resolutions and related sanctions and that it would continue to do so. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)