Since 2003, China has hosted the six-nation talks which include the U.S., Russia, Japan, China, North Korea, and South Korea to discuss the conflicts of North Korea’s nuclear program. But Monday’s announcement by North Korea that it had conducted an underground nuclear test indicated that the six-nation talks were not very successful at all.
Since the U.S. government opposed any precondition for talking and North Korea was only willing to return if Washington made concessions, it is not surprising to see the collapse of the six-party talks. I believe that China’s strategic analysts have already anticipated this result before.
North Korea now warns that the country is going to put nuclear warheads on missiles and conduct additional nuclear tests. On the other hand, the United States and Japan pushed at the United Nations for harsh sanctions. China is under considerable pressure to line up with the U.S. and take harsh sanctions against North Korea. So what is the Chinese government going to do?
Today, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a regular news briefing that China is still encouraging North Korea to return to the table for six-party talks.
What do you think?
I don't think that North Korea will stand and listen how everybody else deciding it's future. It has demonstrated before that it's not willing to cooperate. I think that Washington should make these concessions otherwise more innocent people will die for an unknown cause.
Posted by: bistro tables | May 14, 2007 2:17 AM | Permalink to Comment