U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo exchanged testy words with his Chinese counterpart on Monday as a rapid deterioration of bilateral ties threatens to jeopardize future cooperation over North Korea.
The frosty talks in Beijing came shortly after South Korea’s president said he expected North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to soon meet the Chinese and Russian leaders soon, as Pyongyang courts support from its traditional partners.
Mr. Pompeo arrived in Beijing on Monday from Seoul, where he had briefed South Korean President Moon Jae-in on his meeting with Mr. Kim in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, over the weekend.
The U.S. has been pressing China—North Korea’s main ally, investor and trade partner—to sustain sanctions on Pyongyang and other efforts to persuade Mr. Kim to abandon his nuclear weapons program.
Last week, however, a U.S.-China confrontation over trade broadened as Vice President Mike Pence accused Beijing of undermining U.S. interests on multiple fronts, including meddling in U.S. elections and acting dangerously in the South China Sea.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi began his meeting with Mr. Pompeo by accusing the U.S. of escalating trade friction, causing trouble over Taiwan and unjustifiably criticizing China’s domestic and external policies.
“We demand that the U.S. side stop this kind of mistaken action,” Mr. Wang said.
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He said he knew that Mr. Pompeo wanted to discuss North Korea, and that showed that Beijing and Washington needed a healthy and stable bilateral relationship. The comment appeared to suggest that the U.S. shouldn’t take Beijing’s cooperation on North Korea for granted.
Mr. Pompeo said in his opening remarks that the U.S. had a “fundamental disagreement” with Beijing on the issues that Mr. Wang identified.
“We have great concerns about actions that China has taken and I look forward to having the opportunity to discuss each of the those today because this is an incredibly important relationship,” he said.
Mr. Pompeo said he wanted to share details of his visit to Pyongyang and to make sure that Beijing and Washington were working together toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
He added, however, that he regretted that China chose not to hold the diplomatic and security dialogue—a supposedly annual meeting between Chinese and U.S. diplomats and military officials that had been due to take place in mid-October.
As reporters were ushered out of the room, Mr. Wang said it wasn’t China’s decision to cancel the dialogue.
In other signs of friction between the two sides, Mr. Pompeo didn’t hold a joint news conference with Mr. Wang and told reporters earlier in the day that he didn’t plan to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.
A senior State Department official said Mr. Wang’s remarks didn’t come as a surprise, and that North Korea was a “big part of the conversation.”
Asked if the U.S. was still expecting Chinese cooperation in enforcing sanctions on North Korea, the official said: “Sanctions remain an important part of the overall campaign to bring North Korea to the negotiating table.”
Later, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular news briefing that he didn’t think tensions between Washington and Beijing would affect cooperation on North Korea.
Mr. Lu said he had no information to offer on whether Mr. Xi would visit North Korea soon.
Mr. Moon, the South Korean president, said on Monday that he expects Mr. Kim to travel to Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin and for Mr. Xi to visit North Korea in the near future. He added that a summit between Mr. Kim and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is also “open.”
“A new order is being created on the Korean Peninsula,” Mr. Moon told a cabinet meeting, according to a transcript provided by the presidential office.
North Korean state media has reported that a meeting among officials from China, Russia, and North Korea would be held. North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, who has participated in recent nuclear negotiations with the U.S., was in Beijing in recent days and was expected in Moscow to set up the meeting, North Korean media said.
Russia confirmed that plans were being made through diplomatic channels for Mr. Kim to visit Moscow.
“So far I cannot give you any specific information on this matter,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov said. “The possible dates, place and format of such a visit are being worked out.”
Mr. Kim, whose trip to China in March was his first outside North Korea as leader, is likely to request support from Beijing and Moscow as he presses the U.S. for concessions in return for North Korean progress on dismantling its nuclear facilities.
Negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington to implement a June agreement between Mr. Kim and President Trump have stalled, with the U.S. saying North Korean denuclearization is too slow, and North Korea saying the U.S. isn’t moving fast enough to end decades of hostile relations.
President Moon has nudged both sides to give ground, and acted as an unofficial go-between.
Mr. Trump over the weekend hinted at another summit with Mr. Kim, saying on Twitter that he looks forward to seeing the North Korean leader again in the near future.
Securing Russian and Chinese support would give Mr. Kim more weight in a summit with President Trump, said Nam Sung-wook, a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University.
“Having Putin and Xi Jinping on your side will mean something in talks with Trump,” Mr. Nam said.
—Ann M. Simmons in Moscow contributed to this article.
Write to Jeremy Page at jeremy.page@wsj.com and Andrew Jeong at andrew.jeong@wsj.com
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