China called on Monday for all countries to make constructive efforts to ease tension after North Korea said the latest UN sanctions against it are an act of war and tantamount to a complete economic blockade.
The UN Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Friday for its recent intercontinental ballistic missile test, seeking to limit its access to refined petroleum products and crude oil and its earnings from workers abroad.
The US-drafted resolution also caps crude oil supplies to North Korea at 4 million barrels a year and commits the Council to further reductions if it were to conduct another nuclear test or launch another intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
North Korea on Sunday rejected the resolution, calling it an act of war.
China may be committed to resolving the North Korean nuclear issue through dialogue, but it is taking no chances. Sources say Chinese authorities are actively bracing for a possible clash between the North and the US, including plans for vast refugee camps near the border.
The government in the middle of this year instructed northeastern provinces, including Jilin and Liaoning, to start preparing to open camps that could absorb an expected influx of displaced North Koreans, according to Chinese Communist Party insiders. The sources said multiple planned facilities would have an estimated capacity of up to 500,000 people. Stockpiling of food and tents has apparently begun.
A purported internal file from state telecom operator China Mobile seems to support these claims. The document, which leaked online in early December, says five refugee camps are planned for Changbai County in Jilin, and that the company ran communications tests there on Dec. 2.
The file has not been authenticated, but diplomatic sources suspect it is genuine, as it became inaccessible several days after its release.
Experts familiar with the China-North Korean border region also say barracks are under construction in a military-administered area of Jilin. These are low-rise buildings with communal showers for personnel.
Officially, the construction is meant to counter a growing number of thefts by North Koreans who slip across the frozen border river during the winter. But the authorities may have a real crisis in mind.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Dec. 12 said his country has consulted with China about ways to handle refugees and contain North Korea’s nuclear weapons if a conflict breaks out. “[T]he most important thing to us would be securing those nuclear weapons they’ve already developed and ensuring that they — that nothing falls into the hands of people we would not want to have it. We’ve had conversations with the Chinese about how might that be done,” he said.
The two sides are believed to have discussed these matters during the bilateral security dialogue in Washington in June. That was around the time Beijing issued the instructions on the refugee camps.
Tillerson also said the US had assured China that, if American forces invade North Korea across the military demarcation line, they will withdraw once certain conditions are met.