Denuclearization must not be derailed: China Daily editorial

China has fulfilled its due responsibility to push for efforts to make the Korean Peninsula nuclear-free, and fully and strictly implemented the United Nations resolutions in that regard. As tensions on the peninsula escalate, it is all the more necessary for related parties to exercise restraint, rather than making provocative moves. After all, maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula aligns with the common interests of all parties.

It is counterproductive therefore for the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea to launch a new multinational team to monitor the enforcement of sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in place of a monitoring mechanism at the UN, rather than returning to the track of dialogue and negotiation, which has proved the most effective means of calming the peninsula situation.

The so-called Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team has been introduced after Russia in March rejected the annual renewal of the UN panel of experts that had over the past 15 years overseen the implementation of sanctions aimed at curbing the DPRK's nuclear and missile programs.

The team, to be joined by eight other countries including the United Kingdom, France and Germany, is supposedly to continue with the UN panel's work including issuing regular reports on sanctions enforcement. Yet since it lacks the international legitimacy granted to UN-backed operations, how the team will be able to reinstate the UN's denuclearization plan remains in question. It also bears all the hallmarks of the US' penchant for forming cliques to impose its will on other countries.

The DPRK has already denounced the move as "utterly unlawful and illegitimate", describing it as "the most undisguised violation" of the country's sovereignty. It has also warned that countries involved in the "smear campaign" against Pyongyang "will have to pay a dear price".

Over the past nearly 20 years, the UN has passed nine resolutions imposing sanctions on the DPRK for its nuclear program and related activities, which range from a ban on the trade of arms and military equipment and the freezing of assets of individuals to restrictions on imports of oil and natural gas. The measures have taken a heavy toll on the country's economy. With the US continuously mounting pressure on it, Pyongyang has no choice but to use all necessary means to safeguard the country's security.

Rather, the sanctions have prompted Pyongyang, which withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 2003, to press ahead with its nuclear program with firmer determination as it has increasingly seen US military bases in the ROK and the war games the two countries regularly hold as an existential threat. The fact that the governments in Libya and Iraq were toppled by the US and its allies after giving up their nuclear weapons program has made Pyongyang believe nuclear weapons are the only means to ensure its survival in the face of what it perceives to be growing external security threats. The DPRK has conducted more missile and nuclear tests since Kim Jong-un came to power in 2012 than it had done in all the years since its first nuclear test.

Moreover, global geopolitical changes have further compromised international efforts aimed at making the Korean Peninsula nuclear-free. The breakdown in relations between Russia and the US-led West following the Russia-Ukraine conflict was believed to be the main reason behind Russia vetoing the renewal of the UN panel of experts. Since then, Russia and the DPRK have vowed to boost military ties, with the signing of a mutual defense treaty at a summit in June. There have also been reports that the DPRK has sent troops to Russia for training and will likely be deployed on the front line in Ukraine. All this makes the objective of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula even more difficult to achieve.

China, which abstained from the vote on the UN panel mandate, has made it clear that it supports the stable and sustainable development of the DPRK, not only because of the friendly relations between the two countries but also because it will contribute to regional and global peace.

The members of the new monitoring team should adopt the same approach, rather than exacerbating tensions on the peninsula.