China Supports South Korea and Japan For Multilateral Talks

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao agreed on July 7 to make a concerted effort to persuade North Korea to participate in a multilateral dialogue involving South Korea and Japan, in order to pursue a peaceful resolution to the North`s nuclear weapons ambitions.

The leaders of the two nations held their first summit talks for one and half hours at the Chinese parliament building. During the meeting, the two leaders concurred they would "try to sustain the momentum created by the tripartite meeting between North Korea, the United States and China in April."

The agreement between the two leaders can be interpreted as China`s intention to play a more active role in persuading the North to accept multilateral talks to end the eight-month long nuclear dispute by formally expressing its support for five-way talks including South Korea and Japan.

Roh and Hu reconfirmed the principles of resolving the North Korean nuclear issue in a peaceful manner, securing peace and stability in Korea and denuclearizing the peninsula.

In particular, President Roh asked his counterpart Hu for his government`s support. “North Korea`s nuclear weapons development programs cannot be accepted. And its nuclear weapons should be dismantled in a peaceful and diplomatic way. I hope that China will play an active role in persuading the North not to further aggravate the situation,” he said.

Mr. Roh explained that the Seoul government`s “Peace and Prosperity Policy” to his counterpart was “to facilitate inter-Korean economic cooperation projects, to urgently tackle the North Korean nuclear issue and that the South Korean government wouldn`t link humanitarian assistance to Pyongyang with political issues.”

In response, Chinese President Hu said: “I`m highly respectful of the South Korean government`s policy toward the North and support its vigorous efforts to pursue inter-Korean dialogue and economic cooperation.

They also agreed to warm their countries` diplomatic relations to that of a `comprehensive and cooperative partnership based on their ten-year long bilateral relationships since 1992. President Roh invited Chinese President Hu to Seoul during the meeting and Mr. Hu accepted his counterpart`s invitation.

In addition, the two leaders agreed to step up bilateral cooperation to effectively cope with international issues such as narcotics, terrorism, international crimes, and contagious diseases.

Furthermore, they concurred that the two nations would closely cooperate and provide more support to promote ten economic projects including information and communications for the next generation, high technology, a high-speed railroad link between Beijing and Shanghai, China`s bid for the Olympic games and massive development projects in western China.

The two leaders agreed to set up a South Korean consulate in Cheongdu, a main city in western China, as a part of the two countries` efforts to strengthen bilateral ties. They also signed a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding for science, engineering, and technological cooperation.

Jeong-Hun Kim jnghn@donga.com