'Saber-rattling' continues with 2 new launches

• Source: The Global Times
• [09:19 May 27 2009]
• Comments

Relations with China hurt

All of the countries concerned about the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula have placed their hopes in China to play a bigger role to help ease the long-running tension, Jia Qingguo, deputy dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University, told the Global Times yesterday.

China has been facing tremendous international pressure and has demonstrated a stark stance over its neighbor, with the Foreign Ministry “resolutely” opposed to the nuclear test, Jia said.

He said that China has never used such a harsh term when speaking out against its Korean neighbor.

Jia noted that North Korea has totally ignored China's safety concerns in conducting the nuclear test.

As for any solutions China may seek to prevent the situation from exacerbating, Jia said, it may start with China supporting any UN sanctions against North Korea.

“China's denuclearization efforts in the past have made progress toward a peaceful solution on the nuclear issue,” Jia said. “But North Korea's provocative nuclear test this time makes the situation complicated, and it is likely to lead to a possible sanction.”

And if the two countries cannot find the common ground they have in the past, with both sides respecting the safety concerns of the other, “Bilateral relations will hit a roadblock,” Jia said.

Cui Zhiying, director of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at Tongji University, told the Global Times that China is being urged to respond to the nuclear test in line with the international community, to discourage North Korea's nuclear ambitions and get rid of its past policies toward its neighbor.

China joined Russia in voting against any sanctions against North Korea after its April 5 rocket launch. But this time, China will stand by the international community, Cui said.

UN sanctions on North Korea won't lead to the peaceful settlement of the peninsula's nuclear issue, Cui said, adding that the US and Japan have imposed sanctions on North Korea in the past, which weren't effective.

The six-party talks have reached a temporary stalemate, but bilateral talks between the US and North Korea have not been tried, Cui said.

Dialogue is the only way

To Yu Wanli, a professor with the International Strategy Study Center at Peking University, the exact aims of the nuclear test was direct negotiations with the US and “pushing the US to concede (North Korea's) international status, normalize its diplomatic relationship and provide more economic aid.”

But Cui believes that the main purpose of Monday's nuclear test was simply to develop nuclear weapons.

“North Korea believes it can only ensure national security by possessing weapons with the most deterrent power,” Cui said. “As the effect of conventional weapons in modern war lessens, North Korea still has an estimated 1.2 million-strong army to maintain – nearly 1/20th of its population.”

The current situation dims the prospect of denuclearization on the Peninsula, Cui said. “The only way is through dialogue.”

Guo Qiang and Kang Juan also contributed to this story