North Korea has affronted China. Pyongyang’s announcement that it has long possessed nuclear weapons and has no immediate intention of negotiating over the issue has left its old friend and neighbour speechless.
China is attempting to cover its dismay with frenetic diplomatic activity. The head of the international department of the Communist Party, Wang Jiarui, is to assess the situation when he meets North Korean leaders over the weekend.
Pyongyang’s unexpected announcement a week ago took Beijing by surprise, and not only because China was preoccupied with its New Year celebrations that virtually shut the country down for a week.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Kong Quan was reduced on Thursday to repeating long-held Chinese positions on the nuclear issue, as though nothing had changed and North Korea had not openly declared itself a nuclear power.
The declared aim of all the participants at the six-party talks, including North Korea itself, was that the Korean peninsula should be a nuclear-weapons-free zone.
But this aim is a dead letter if the North has nuclear weapons.
And this spells failure for the talks, which involve the United States, Russia and Japan, alongside the two Koreas and China.
It also means that China’s attempt to act as a go-between has come to naught, in the light of the North’s decision to withdraw ”for an indefinite period”.
Kong Quan refused to accept this conclusion when taxed by journalists, and he called for patience. But his own patience appeared to be running short.
”You need to write down only one sentence: that the US and North Korea should show more flexibility and seriousness,” he said in response to repeated questioning.
This could be seen as criticism directed at both the US and North Korea, but Beijing is scarcely in a position to complain about Washington’s relatively reserved reaction to the bombshell from Pyongyang last week.
That leaves North Korea as the target. In Chinese eyes, it has stabbed its traditional friend in the back, caused severe embarrassment and left Beijing’s efforts at dialogue in ruins.
Some foreign observers believe that North Korea was aiming at China in taking its provocative step and that Pyongyang may feel it has itself been betrayed by Beijing.
According to this view, the North Korean regime feels it has not been receiving the necessary support from China and regards Beijing as little more than a mouthpiece for Washington.
Quite apart from the obvious national interest, Beijing has made considerable political capital out of its negotiating role on the international stage.
Now Chinese observers do not hold back in their criticism of their wilful neighbour, but many continue to believe that last week’s statement is part of a game of poker being played by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and that his bluff can be called.
But not even the diplomats engaged in their frenetic activity believe Pyongyang can be lured back to the negotiating table soon.
All eyes are now on Beijing, which has indicated it is not interested in applying pressure through sanctions.
On one hand, the Chinese leadership rejects such measures on principle, and on the other it fears — justifiably in the eyes of most — that sanctions would merely escalate the crisis.
South Korea’s ambassador to Beijing, Kim Ha-joong, has called on China to apply subtle but effective measures. The North draws almost all of its imports across the border with China.
”What kind of situation could arise, if China, citing maintenance work, were to close just three of its roads simultaneously?” the ambassador was quoted as saying by the South Korean news agency Yonhap. — Sapa-DPA