hankyoreh

China’s ambassador to the US

By Park Hyun, Washington correspondent

“It’s an impossible task, it’s unfair, and it’s not constructive for cooperation between the US and China.”

This was the blunt response from Cui Tiankai, China’s ambassador to the US, to demands from Washington for Beijing to put pressure on North Korea to denuclearize. The ambassador’s unusually outspoken criticism of his host country may throw cold water on the strategy of South Korea, the US, and Japan to use China’s role as a way of achieving a resolution on the North Korean nuclear issue.

Cui’s remarks came at a seminar on “U.S.-China Cooperation in Peace and Security” held on Apr. 10 by the United States Institute of Peace in Washington.

“The US is calling on us to use our ‘big influence’ on North Korea to put pressure on it, saying that we would otherwise be hurting China’s security interests,” he said.

Cui’s statements indicate that Beijing’s recent efforts to mediate a resolution on the nuclear issue have not been going over well with Pyongyang. Indeed, Wu Dawei, China’s special representative on Korean Peninsula affairs, reportedly came up more or less empty-handed on steps to resume the six-party talks after a mid-March visit to North Korea.

Most of all, the remarks from Cui can be taken as a sign of displeasure at Washington for using the North Korean nuclear issue as a reason for disrupting China’s security environment, with expansion of the US’s missile defense system in Northeast Asia and stronger security cooperation with South Korea and Japan. Beijing’s position is that the US is being unfair by tying its own military policy in the region to Chinese efforts to put pressure on North Korea.

Indeed, Daniel Russel, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, made a veiled threat to China on Apr. 1, saying that China needs to put more pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons if it wants the US to change its strategy in Northeast Asia.

“For China, the two issues have entirely different characters, and China has made clear that it does not think it is appropriate for them to be linked,” said Lee Nam-ju, a professor at Sungkonghoe University.

On the same day, Cui also emphasized that North Korea’s denuclearization is not something that China can accomplish on its own, revealing China’s discomfort with the issue. China was urging the US, South Korea, and Japan to stop trying to solve the problem through pressure alone and pointing out that China would only be able to negotiate with North Korea if they first lowered the requirements for resuming dialogue.

“China regards North Korea as a sovereign country, and it believes that the path to denuclearization lies not through sanctions and pressure but rather through dialogue and persuasion,” said Lee Hui-ok, professor at Sungkyunkwan University. “It also does not think that exercising its influence to change North Korea is a positive action for the stability of the Korean peninsula.”

Given the pushback from China, it is expected that Hwang Jun-guk, South Korea’s new envoy to the six-party talks and the Foreign Ministry’s representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, has his work cut out for him during his visit to China on Apr. 11 and 12.

Meeting with reporters after arriving at the Beijing Capital International Airport on Apr. 11, Hwang said, “This could bring about genuine progress in the denuclearization of North Korea. It needs to be a meaningful discussion that can eliminate the North’s nuclear capability, and our position on that remains unchanged.” This indicates that no plan has yet been prepared that can sway North Korea.

The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also showed signs recently of adjusting its position on whether to take a more flexible stance on applying the conditions for resuming the six-party talks. A senior government official said on condition of anonymity, “It is still too early to say whether we will be flexible, whether we will stick to our current approach, or whether we will instead act more strictly.”

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]