Trump vows to seek allies on North Korea, Iran

Bloomberg ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

President Donald Trump will embark on a whirlwind series of meetings next week at the United Nations General Assembly to make two big asks of the world: Stand with us against North Korea,
and hold the line against Iran’s
nuclear programme.
Over the course of four days, beginning on Monday, Trump will engage in a speed round of diplomacy that may test his patience for the notoriously factionalised, lethargic institution as well as his preference for one-on-one dealmaking in which the US always holds the strongest hand.
“Next week is not going to be short on topics,” the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, told reporters at the White House. She acknowledged that foreign leaders are curious about how the unpredictable US president will maneuver.
“They are all very anxious to hear what he has to say,” Haley said. “And I think that he will make quite an impact.”
Trump’s appearance at the UN—highlighted by an address before the world body—is his biggest moment on the world stage since taking office. There is far more at stake than at the two economic summits in Europe he attended earlier this year.
As he welcomes leaders from nearly 200 nations to his home town of New York, he’ll press them to join US efforts to constrain missile and nuclear programmes in both North Korea and Iran.
Tensions have risen sharply with both nations since Trump took office and assumed a more confrontational posture than his predecessor, Barack Obama.

Major Speech
“The world is still trying to take the measure of this president,” said Jon Alterman, senior vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “For a number of leaders, this is going to be their first chance to see him, to judge him, to try to get on his good side.”
In New York, Trump will hold a series of individual and small-group meetings with leaders from the Mideast, Latin America, Africa and Europe. He’ll headline the UN secretary general’s reform campaign, a 120-nation initiative. He’ll also continue two traditions of US presidents at the UN: the major speech, on Tuesday, and a diplomatic reception planned for Monday evening.
“I personally think he slaps the right people, he hugs the right people, and he comes out with the US being very strong in the end,” said Haley, who has seen a draft of Trump’s address.
In addition to Trump and Haley, Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, the president’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and his National Economic Council director, Gary Cohn, are all expected to attend events in New York next week.
Two key foreign leaders will not be on hand: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Obama is also expected to be in New York during the UN gathering, for an event sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that will draw international figures.
The North Korean and Iranian nuclear programmes are foremost on the president’s agenda. North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile with the range to reach Guam, its latest in a series of provocations, and the Trump administration is seeking to extend and strengthen the Iranian nuclear deal that Obama signed and Trump has repeatedly maligned.
Trump will discuss the North Korea crisis over lunch with the leaders of South Korea and Japan. McMaster that the world is “out of time” to stop North Korea from becoming a nuclear state.

China rebuffs US demand to cut off oil exports to North Korea
Bloomberg

China rebuffed US demands to cut off oil exports to North Korea as a way to dissuade Kim Jong-Un’s regime from pursuing nuclear weapons, saying instead it was American leaders who needed to tone down their rhetoric and come to the negotiating table.
China will implement all United Nations Security Council resolutions, “no more, no less,” Cui Tiankai, China’s ambassador to the US, told reporters at a briefing in Washington when asked if China would cut
oil shipments.
Any further steps would need to be worked out with the agreement of the entire UN Security Council, he said.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson demanded Thursday that China use its role as the main exporter of oil to North Korea to force Kim to abandon his nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
Hours earlier, North Korea had launched a missile over Japan, the latest in a series of actions that have rattled the
international community and prompted a new round of US-led sanctions.
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.
Asked what specifically the US should do, Cui said “they should refrain from issuing more threats” and “do more to find an effective way to resume dialogue and negotiation.”