China and the United States have agreed Wednesday, Feb. 24, on a proposed UN resolution on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and will not accept Pyongyang as a nuclear weapons state, according to White House and United Nations diplomats.
A statement released by the White House said that U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi have agreed during a meeting "on the importance of a strong and united international response to North Korea's provocations, including through a U.N. Security Council resolution that goes beyond previous resolutions."
A report by China Daily said that the statement came as diplomats at the U.N. headquarters in New York announced that U.S. and China had agreed on a draft resolution to new sanctions on the DPRK with the Security Council set to vote on the measure in the coming days.
According to diplomats who asked not to be identified, the U.S. circulated the draft of the sanctions to the other permanent members of the Security Council (Britain, France and Russia) on Wednesday, Feb. 24, and will formally present it to the full 15-member council soon.
"There is good progress on the resolution, and we are hopeful that there will be adoption in the coming days," one diplomat said.
Another diplomat described the draft resolution as a "significantly substantive text," while yet another said it contained "a large number of very tough measures," with names to be added to the sanctions blacklist.
Beijing did not comment on the White House statement, but Hua Chunying, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman cited Foreign Minister Wang's remarks during Wednesday's joint news conference with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, that Beijing and Washington made important progress in the new resolution against the DPRK and are "looking at the possibility of reaching agreement in the near future."
China, however, reiterated that the sanctions will not solve the DPRK nuclear issue, and urged all involved parties to return to negotiations, the report said.
The agreement was reached during Wang's three-day visit in Washington. The report said that it was the third meeting between Wang and Kerry, and was held within a month after the DPRK conducted a nuclear test in January.
Wang also met with U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday.
During their meeting, Obama stressed his interest to build a durable, constructive and productive U.S.-China relationship. According to the joint statement, the U.S. president also said he looked forward to welcoming President Xi Jinping to the nuclear security summit in Washington on March 31 to April 1 and "working together toward its success."
Zuo Xiying, an international studies specialist at the National Academy of Development and Strategy of Renmin University of China, said the agreements reached between the two countries are beneficial to building up the strategic trust between the two countries.
The unexpected changes on the Korean Peninsula and recent rising tensions in the South China Sea have prompted the frequent meeting between Wang and Kerry, Shi Yinhong, a professor of U.S. studies at Renmin University of China, said.
Meanwhile, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, Feb. 25, that a senior U.S. diplomat will make a two-day visit to South Korea this week for talks about the DPRK nuclear and missile programs.