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Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao,
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Beijing stresses importance of six-party talks
As the North Korean missile crisis intensifies, China has reportedly unofficially contacted the North to try to persuade the fellow communist country to abandon its missile test launch in order to not affect resumption of the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs. However, China is, officially, maintaining a very guarded position on the matter. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who is visiting South Africa on a tour of seven African nations, said, "We do not have exact information [on the missile activity]. China wants to resume the six-party talks." Wu Dawei, vice foreign minister and China’s top delegate to the six-party talks, emphasized the importance of the negotiations, as well. Speaking to Maeil Business Newspaper, Vice Minister Wu said, "It is difficult to solve the missile problem because Pyongyang claims that it has sovereign rights to develop missiles, and Washington maintains that the North violated an agreement reached at the six-party talks. The North’s missile test-firing shouldn’t affect the six-party talks," he stressed. Vice Minister Wu said that he had delivered the Chinese position to the U.S. and the North, adding, "China wants this issue to be solved through dialogue and negotiation." The six-party talks involve China and North Korea, as well as South Korea, Russia, Japan, and the United States. They have been stalled since their fifth round in Beijing last November."China is coping with this problem cautiously because it cannot publicly oppose the North’s claim of sovereign rights to possess missiles," a diplomatic source in Beijing said. Some observers say the missile issue was probably discussed at a meeting in Beijing on June 21 between Liang Guanglie, a top brass in the Chinese army, and a delegation of the North Korean People’s Army headed by commander Ri Yong-hwan. A Chinese online financial news site based in Shanghai, citing market analyzers, said, "A delegation from Pyongyang is negotiating with Beijing [on the missile issue] and Pyongyang is expected to cancel its plan to launch a missile following Beijing’s coordination." Other sources, however, doubted the verity of this report.
