April 9, 2003	Wednesday	Safar 6, 1424

BEIJING: China’s new proactiveness in urging Pyongyang to go to the multilateral negotiating table reflects its growing security concerns worries about possible US recklessness in handling the North Korean nuclear crisis, and alarm over military resurgence from Japan.

China has grown increasingly irritated with its long-time Communist ally.

North Korea became the first country to pull out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty earlier this year. It kicked out the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors and shut down UN surveillance cameras at its Yongbyon nuclear facilities, which are capable of producing plutonium for nuclear bombs.

If North Korea declares itself a nuclear power it admitted to having a secret nuclear weapons enrichment programme in October — China is worried that threat in the region could then lead to a military arms race, including by Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province.

Already, Beijing is fretting over growing public debate in Japan on how to upgrade its self-defence forces to suit the country’s pacifist constitution.

China is also genuinely concerned that after the bombs stop falling in Baghdad, Washington will turn its attention toward North Korea, which US President George W. Bush has included in his ‘axis of evil’ along with Iraq and Iran.

Already, a spokesman for North Korea’s foreign ministry said on Sunday: “The United States is seriously mistaken if it thinks the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) will accept the demand for disarming while watching one of the three countries the US listed as part of an ‘axis of evil’ already subject to the barbarous military attack.”

Among Beijing’s many fears is the possibility that Pyongyang’s belligerent behaviour might lead to US military moves against the Yongbyon nuclear reactor — even though Washington continues to claim that Iraq is not North Korea, and that each requires very different solutions.

The Bush administration has refused Pyongyang’s demand for bilateral talks, which it argued would reward North Korea for its nuclear brinkmanship. Pyongyang, for its part, has rejected a multilateral forum, which Washington says would reflect the fact that the crisis is as much a regional issue as a bilateral one.

As the UN Security Council is scheduled to meet for an initial round of discussions on the North Korean issue, Pyongyang insisted on the weekend that any action taken by the Council would be ignored by the regime.

Drawing parallells between the Iraq situation and its own, the foreign ministry spokesman in Pyongyang, which the state-run Korean Central News Agency did not name, said: “The UNSC (Security Council’s) handling of the nuclear issue on the peninsula itself is precisely a prelude to war. The UNSC’s discussion of the Iraqi issue was misused by the US as an excuse for war.”

The UN Security Council has the power to punish nations for violating international anti-proliferation treaties. For example, it could impose economic sanctions on Pyongyang. But North Korea has previously warned that any sanctions imposed by the United Nations would be considered a “declaration of war”.

Fearing that any UN sanctions might further isolate the regime and push the peninsula to the brink of war, China has until now resisted a Council meeting. Last week, however, the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations said Beijing had agreed to hold initial consultations on the issue.

“We hope that we could have good coordination so hopefully we could accomplish something,” Chinese ambassador Wang Yingfan said.

While Beijing may stick to its long-time opposition to economic sanctions, indications are emerging that China is also stepping up pressure on North Korea. Australia s Foreign minister Alexander Downer said last week China was now making a substantial effort to persuade North Korea to accept a US demand for multi-nation regional talks.

Speaking from Washington where he met US President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney during a two-day visit, Downer provided a rare hint of behind-the-scenes diplomatic negotiations between major players on the issue in order to find a suitable security framework.

A series of developments over the last few weeks indicate that Beijing is trying to build pressure on Pyongyang to stop the escalation of nuclear tension on the Korean peninsula and to seriously engage in a dialogue.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.