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China-Japan-Koreas
Little progress in China's efforts to convince N. Korea to change course
2013-09-06
BEIJING -- China appears to have been unable to make much headway in the latest diplomatic efforts to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, diplomatic sources with knowledge of last week's talks between the two said Friday.
I think this is nonsense. China can bring the Norks to heel by cutting off the oil and the cash. China is engaged in some play-handwringing to make it look like it's Uncle Sugar's intransigence that is the problem.
China's chief nuclear envoy Wu Dawei made a five-day visit to North Korea last week, during which he met with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye-gwan. The Chinese foreign ministry has said the two sides discussed ways to re-start the long-stalled six-party talks on the North's nuclear weapons programs.

This week, the Chinese foreign ministry briefed diplomats from South Korea, the U.S., Russia and Japan about the outcome of the talks between Wu and Kim, but it didn't say whether Kim expressed an intention to demonstrate its seriousness about denuclearization through concrete actions, according to the sources.

"The ministry explained the outcome of Wu's visit to North Korea to relevant nations through a debriefing session, but it didn't say whether North Korea changed its stance on denuclearization," a source said on the condition of anonymity.

Though a diplomat asked Pyongyang if it switched its stance on denuclearization during the debriefing session, the Chinese side "did not get a definite answer," according to the source.

"At the debriefing session, China only emphasized its efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue without explaining about the North's latest stance," said another diplomatic source.
Posted by:Steve White

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