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N. Korea: China for multilateral efforts

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE Feb. 8. China is not only judging North Korea by the non-proliferation standards of the five-member Nuclear Club but also beginning to explore the possibilities of settling the issues concerning Pyongyang's atomic weapons programme through "joint efforts'' by "all parties'' concerned.

In this subtle reinterpretation of an earlier position by China, now articulated by its President in his telephonic conversation with his American counterpart, Beijing has indicated its willingness to go beyond the stand of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) that its nuclear profile is an issue to be sorted out bilaterally with the U.S. without any multilateral involvement.

Until now, China had generally endorsed the North Korean line of that order by insisting that Pyongyang's suspected nuclear weapons programme could best be addressed with reference to the U.S.-DPRK Agreed Framework of 1994.

The new hint about China's willingness to play a part in multilateral efforts at a "peaceful'' resolution of the North Korean nuclear arms issue comes, significantly, in the context of Beijing's diplomatic nuances about its readiness to consider being accommodative of Washington's concerns over Iraq's suspected plans to make and deploy weapons of mass destruction.

On Iraq, China has made its intentions clear about being firm with the U.S. over its unilateral tendencies even while making common cause with Washington as regards their shared global agenda of nuclear non-proliferation wherever such action might be feasible.

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