[imText1]Staying in China to resume the six-party talks and financial sanctions against North Korea following the resolutions of the U.N Security, Christopher R. Hill, Assistant Secretary of State, spoke out that he has been undergoing difficulty in exercising influence over North Korea via China.
After the meeting with Vice Minister Wu Daiwei on the 6th, Assistant Secretary Christopher R. Hill stated that, “The U.S. and China are having difficulty in attracting North Korea to the six-party talks”. He added that, “China is also finding it difficult to exercise influence (over North Korea)”.
It was known that Assistant Secretary Christopher R. Hill and Vice Minister Wu Daiwei fervently discussed and exchanged opinions about the issue of North Korea’s nuclear testing. It is inferred that during the meeting, the U.S would suggest to form a new talk rather than keep the six-talks or two summit talk. However, China has been against the idea.
Now both countries are concentrating on the problem of nuclear tests rather than on resuming the six-party talks. This means that both parties acknowledge the high possibility that North Korea would be able to take an additional strong action on the world. It also shows that the China’s diplomatic efforts have only been to prevent the current situation from being aggravated.
On the other hand, the fact that Assistant Secretary Christopher R. Hill said Chinese diplomatic effort was not working for North Korea proves the contrary that both countries did not have consensus on inviting North Korea to China. It seems that if China really invited North Korea to China, then now it would be under an embarrassing situation.
Professor Kim Heung Geu of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security claimed that, “The role of China is limited, yet China will try to take action to prevent aggravation by restoring its traditional diplomatic relations with North Korea”. He added that, “China will pressure North Korea step by step with all resources available with the carrot and stick strategy”.
Professor Kim said that, “The majority of Chinese leaders showed an opinion that if North Korea gives bad news, they would not sit around on our hands”.
Previously, Spokesperson Qingang of the Chinese Foreign Ministry did not consent to the financial sanctions imposed by the U.S against North Korea. It means that China did not want to be involved in on the financial sanction matter.
It is true that both countries are trying to diplomatically solve the nuclear testing problem. However, it is expected that while the U.S will be more on the side of imposing the financial sanction, China will restore influences on and relations with North Korea.
In the end many experts have agreed that the next actions by North Korea will be the most important. After the missile conflict, North Korea has not responded to strong actions of other countries and has only focused on controlling its people. However, some predict that if North Korea takes provocative action, relations between North Korea and China will be fundamentally changed.
