In March, two leading members of the Trump administration announced that China’s ZTE Corporation would pay the largest criminal fine in U.S. sanctions history. As long as North Korea’s military program tops the U.S. foreign policy agenda with China, economic sanctions aimed at punishing Chinese corporations may take a back seat to reaching a goal of increased Chinese pressure on the North Korean regime.

North does not threaten America geographically as two nations do not share a land border, but President Trump apparently is certain that Pyongyang’s weapons programs are Washington’s problem. This prospect has pushed the Trump administration into frenetic if not necessarily productive activity.

China must reconsider its approach to the DPRK nuclear issue, reverse its passive strategic position, and not equate the security of North Korea with the security of the Kim regime. Beijing should openly state that it will neither allow a war in North Korea, nor merely look on while North Korea becomes Northeast Asia’s “Middle East”.

The nature of Washington’s alliance network was always based on the assumption that the United States was firmly in charge of policy decisions. The risk inherent to America’s allies from that arrangement is now becoming increasingly evident.

The new US leader has become more pragmatic about Beijing and established a good rapport with President Xi Jinping, but his approach to Taiwan, the One China policy and North Korea have failed to reassure many Chinese observers.

A salience-based bargain considers the salience each country considers as its core interest. When applied to China-U.S. relations, it could be helpful in making concessions on both sides in order to come to an agreement on dealing with North Korea.

The Korean nuclear issue is the most complicated and uncertain factor for Northeast Asian security. It has now become the focus of attention in the Asia Pacific and even the world at large. Now, as the issue continues to heat up, one frequently raised question is: Why can’t China take greater responsibility and make North Korea stop its nuclear weapons program?

The current crisis is not an isolate event, but the result of 60 years of failed attempts to resolve the conflict. Relations among regional players have a key role, and improving strategic trust between China and the US would be a first step toward establishing enough trust to begin talks between the US and the DPRK.

The US policy of “maximum pressure” without seeking regime change gives both sides more room to negotiate, but China’s “dual-track approach” still offers more hope for a win-win resolution.

Successful conflict management calls for establishing a peaceful way of doing business. That approach emphasizes inducements, which may stimulate talks and reciprocal concessions; use of all three levels of diplomacy—official, nonofficial, and people-to-people; and actions on the ground that, by reducing tensions, reverse the momentum for conflict.