A U.S. bipartisan commission says the most important test in U.S.-Chinese relations in the coming months will involve whether China can persuade North Korea to drops its nuclear ambitions.
In a report Tuesday, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said that China must step up to this crucial task and do so quickly.
The congressionally mandated report added that China has helped bring
North Korea to the table, but has not adequately employed its considerable political and economic leverage over the North to drive it toward abandoning its nuclear weapons program.
Washington is calling for Pyongyang to accept a complete, verifiable and irreversible nuclear dismantlement.
The report added that China should also agree to curtail North Korea's export of ballistic missiles by providing alternative economic incentives for the North Koreans that would replace the hard currency they earn from these sales.