The Chinese government has ordered all North Korean-owned businesses operating on Chinese soil to shut down, setting a deadline of 120 days from the imposition of UN sanctions on 11 September.
The closures will put further pressure on North Korea's already fragile economy and leave it with almost no source of international income.
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China's foreign ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, said he was “opposed to any war on the Korean peninsula” and talked up the prospect of diplomacy. “Sanctions and the promoting of talks are both the requirements of the UN Security Council,” he said. “We should not overemphasise one aspect while ignoring the other,”.
The Chinese government “has traditionally been protective of its neighbour,” says the BBC, “but has sharply criticised its nuclear tests and escalating rhetoric. Earlier this year, it clamped down on its purchase of coal from Pyongyang and on seafood and iron trade across the border.”
It has also said that it would cut off gas and limit refined petroleum deliveries from January. China “provides the bulk of North Korea’s energy supplies”, the ABC says.
However, it made no mention of crude oil, which makes up the bulk of China’s energy exports to North Korea, and which is not covered in the latest UN sanctions.