BEIJING — China voiced hope Tuesday that a rare direct meeting between North Korean and American officials next week would result in Pyongyang returning to talks on dismantling its nuclear program.
President Barack Obama's special envoy, Stephen Bosworth, is to travel to Pyongyang next Tuesday to discuss restarting the six-nation talks, in the first one-on-one talks between Pyongyang and Washington since Obama took office in January.
"We hope the dialogue between the DPRK and the United States can be held and can be successful," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a news conference, referring to the country by the initials of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
North Korea pulled out of nuclear talks in April to protest international criticism of a long-range rocket launch. It then conducted its second-ever nuclear test in May and has pushed for direct talks with the U.S.
It is my hope that anyone who has read this article in conjunction now with the one I wrote last week will be able to put aside any 'China is buddy buddy with the North Koreans' argument. Admittedly, however, this possibility of establishing diplomatic relations with North Korea may not be the right path for the United States to take. The six party talks, convened by China itself (who frequently has to drag North Korea to the table with it), are a more than satisfactory method of interacting with North Korea. In fact, in one particular regard, that being the ability to bring in other nation's voices in the East Asia sphere, they are the better choice for pursuing diplomatic goals.
What might just well happen with the North Korean government in this case is that a particular power group within it, particularly Kim Jong-Il's, is trying to gain face as the right group to continue ruling in the event of his death and succession by his son. Considering how eager they were to have Bill Clinton come over in recent months, and the completely independent of China's input detonation (much to their fury) of nuclear devices, it is likely North Korea is anything but internally stable. It may well be in the United States interest to back off and see what might happen if the west left the regime alone.
Yet this goal, of internal reform or collapse, is exactly the opposite of what the Chinese seek to get out of this entire debacle with North Korea. They more than anything want the regime to remain stable there so as to protect their stability interests in Manchuria. There is nothing worse than coming to the aid of a collapsing regime's people when you are loathe to do it and have absolutely no interest in keeping them in your territory.
Read the full article here.
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