BEIJING — There’s never a great time to fire off rockets potentially capable of carrying nuclear warheads, but China has been left in an awkward position by the timing of North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test, experts said.
Pyongyang said on Monday this weekend’s test of the “medium-to-long range” missile had been successful, according to the official KCNA news agency. But there were probably a few palms slamming into faces in Beijing.
The missile launch took place while President Trump was playing host to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and will intensify pressure from both countries on China to do more to restrain North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.