A rchive Date
[ 25-02-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ China ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/02/23/31185-ap.html
China offers help with nuke crisis
By GEORGE GEDDA - Associated Press
Sun, February 23, 2003
BEIJING (AP) - Chinese officials rejected Secretary of State Colin Powell's appeal Monday for a regional approach to the North Korean nuclear standoff and called for direct talks between the United States and Pyongyang to resolve concerns over the communist nation's nuclear weapons programs.
On Iraq, Powell urged Chinese support for a second U.N. Security Council resolution that would authorize military action if President Saddam Hussein refuses to disarm, but the Chinese stood by their longstanding position that U.N. inspections should continue. It was not clear whether China would exercise its veto power if a second resolution is voted on by the Council.
North Korea and Iraq dominated separate meetings Powell held with Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, Vice President Hu Jintao and President Jiang Zemin.
A resolution on Iraq backed by the United States and Britain was to be introduced Monday.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said it would be "very short and to the point," and that President Bush expects a vote on it soon. Fleischer would not offer a deadline for a vote.
A spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said the council would vote on the resolution by mid-March. Fleischer said "that's not a bad estimate."
Vice President Dick Cheney was meeting Monday morning in Washington with Angela Merkel, the head of the Christian Democrats and a possible German ally on Iraq.
Merkel has said that German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder made a mistake by ruling force out, and she believes that with force as an option, Saddam may be more prone to cooperate.
On North Korea, Chinese state television quoted Tang as saying that China hopes for talks on the nuclear issue between the United States and North Korea "on an equal basis."
The Chinese state news agency Xinhua, meanwhile, reported that Hu made the same point and said U.S. talks with North Korea should begin as soon as possible.
Powell told an afternoon news conference that China is eager to play a positive role in helping to resolve concerns about Pyongyang's weapons programs. He added that China was undertaking initiatives with North Korea that he was unable to discuss publicly.
After his discussions here, Powell flew to South Korea to attend the inauguration Tuesday of President-elect Roh Moo-Hyun. Roh also has advocated direct talks between Washington and Pyongyang to resolve the weapons issue.
Powell has said direct talks with North Korea are possible so long as they are limited to a conversation on what Pyongyang must to do comply with its international obligations.
He said the United States feels strongly that "North Korea's actions pose a threat to regional stability and to the global non-proliferation regime.
"I cannot emphasize how seriously all of us would view any move toward reprocessing of the spent fuel and the production of nuclear weapons."
Powell said Japan backs the U.S. insistence on a regional approach to the issue. He also noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency agreed earlier this month in a near-unanimous vote by member states to refer the issue to the U.S. Security Council.
But an administration official said last week that strong action by the Council is not likely because of opposition by Russia.
China is the chief provider of foreign assistance to North Korea. Privately, administration officials have said China has not used all the leverage it has to induce North Korea to curb its nuclear ambitions.
Powell told reporters the administration has seen a deterioration in the human rights situation in China.
Since December, he said the United States has been "deeply concerned by the execution of a prominent Tibetan, the detention of more than a dozen pro-democracy activists and the continuation of a pattern of inconsistent and irregular legal and judicial procedures."
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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