It'd be a shame to let this pass as received wisdom:
Chinese state media are blaming the US relisting of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism for its latest missile test.
An editorial in the Global Times said US policy on North Korea had "been nothing but an abysmal failure" in wrongly assuming that it could force Pyongyang to abandon its weapons programme by applying more pressure on the country.
The newspaper warned that China would "not support a new round of Trump administration pressure tactics" but also reminded North Korea that the international community would never accept it as a nuclear-armed state.
"Washington has placed China in a precarious situation by asking for more than what was originally expected by the UN Security Council regarding the previous round of North Korea sanctions. China has always carried out UN security measures," the editorial said.
The English-language China Daily said: "A golden opportunity to build concerted momentum to encourage Pyongyang to engage in talks has been so casually wasted by the Trump administration's recent action of renaming Pyongyang a sponsor of state terrorism, which may have prompted Pyongyang's latest missile launch."
It's self-serving nonsense from the Chinese, who continue to be the main factor in the continuing survival of the Kim regime. Pyongyang has no interest in engaging in talks. The reason this kind of analysis has any leverage - and it does - is down to Trump, pure and simple. He's a blowhard who can't help sounding off on Twitter and elsewhere, so it fits the narrative to blame him for Pyongyang's increasing aggression. But, as it happens, his North Korean policy is one area where, to date, he's been a great deal stronger than his predecessors.
No, I don't believe that Trump personally has a firm grasp of the situation, or is driving US policy here. Read this excellent NYT piece by Brian Hook, director of policy planning and senior policy adviser at the State Department, and it becomes clear that, on North Korea at least, Trump has some key advisers who know what they're doing and have managed, so far, to guide the President in something like the right direction.