CHINA HAS stepped up diplomatic efforts to broker a resolution in the crisis gripping the Korean peninsula.
Beijing yesterday called for envoys from members of the six nations that have been participating in discussions on North Korean nuclear disarmament to attend an emergency meeting in the Chinese capital.
China’s diplomatic initiative came as US and South Korean warships began four days of military exercises in the area, led by the aircraft carrier USS George Washington. The manoeuvres prompted North Korea to say it would “deal a merciless military counter-attack at any provocative act of intruding into its territorial waters”.
China is North Korea’s only significant ally and Beijing describes the relationship between the two neighbours as being “as close as lips and teeth”. There has been pressure on China to use its leverage to find a solution to the crisis. Seoul and Tokyo said they would examine the proposal for an emergency meeting.
Tensions have escalated in the region since four people were killed and 20 wounded in an artillery bombardment by the North last Tuesday on South Korea’s Yeonpyeong island.
Pyongyang said if there had been civilian deaths, they were “very regrettable”, but accused South Korea of using a human shield around military facilities on the island.
Dai Bingguo, China’s most senior foreign policy official and a member of the state council, met South Korean president Lee Myung-bak in Seoul yesterday. Foreign minister Yang Jiechi spoke by telephone with US secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
“The Chinese side, after careful deliberation, proposes emergency consultations among the heads of delegation to the six-party talks in early December in Beijing to exchange views on major issues of concern to the parties at present,” said China’s envoy to the talks, Wu Dawei. “I want to stress that a series of complicated factors have recently emerged on the Korean peninsula. The international community, particularly the members of the six-party talks, is deeply concerned,” he added.
The six-party talks – chaired by Beijing and comprising the US, Japan, Russia, China and the two Koreas – have been largely stalled for the past two years. In the interim, North Korea tested a long-range rocket and exploded its second nuclear device.
Talks between the two Koreas have stalled since the sinking of South Korean navy vessel the Cheonan, which Seoul says was hit by a North Korean torpedo. The North denies involvement.
China objects to the US-South Korean joint naval exercise, which it sees as a threat to its sovereignty in the region. Its foreign ministry warned against having the manoeuvres in China’s “exclusive economic zone” without its authorisation, the Xinhua news agency reported. Beijing is keen to expand its diplomatic muscle in the region by brokering a successful outcome to the six-party talks.
Should the proposed emergency session of talks widen its brief from discussing nuclear disarmament into broader regional security issues it would mark a new role for the forum.
US envoy to the talks Stephen Bosworth was on a tour of the region last week, stopping in Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing after a US scientist reported being shown a new, sophisticated uranium enrichment facility in North Korea.
The South Korean news agency Yonhap said North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has moved missiles to frontline areas.
Adm Michael Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said the US was trying to prevent tensions over last week’s attack from escalating.
“We’re very focused on restraint and not letting this thing get out of control. Nobody wants this thing to turn into a conflict,” he said in an interview with CNN.