U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, continuing her three-nation Asian tour in Beijing, has moved to reaffirm once again U.S. support for an international response to the sinking of the Cheonan, and has asserted that China should also take its own steps to deal with North Korea.
Speaking at the opening of a conference with Chinese leaders at the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square this morning, Clinton stated, “We must work together again to address this challenge.”
“We call on North Korea to stop its provocative actions,” she added.
At a banquet on Sunday, the U.S. delegation including Secretary of State Clinton apparently told the Chinese, led by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Dai Bingguo, that the U.S. wanted to see Beijing making some efforts of its own to deal with the tense situation.
“We want them to take some steps in the international arena to underscore the seriousness of the matter,” one senior U.S. official explained after the event on condition of anonymity, though he added, “We have to be realistic about what we expect.”
According to reports, the U.S. delegation has used the Beijing leg of the trip to show some of the forensic evidence from the Cheonan investigation to Vice Minister Dai and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, while a briefing on Kim Jong Il’s China trip and the state of his health has apparently been sent the other way.
On the first stop of her trip, Tokyo, Clinton reaffirmed Washington’s stance on Friday.
“It is important to send a clear message to North Korea that provocative actions have consequences,” she told reporters. “We cannot allow this attack on South Korea to go unanswered by the international community… we will send a clear, unmistakable message to North Korea regarding the international community’s, and most particularly its neighbors, concerns about its behavior.”
The U.S. delegation will be in Beijing until Wednesday, before travelling to Seoul en route for Washington.
