The NewYork Times ：North Korea’s Statement Puts China in a Quandary

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North Korea’s Statement Puts China in a Quandary
　　By KEITH BRADSHER
　　
　　Published: February 10, 2005
　　
　　
　　BEIJING, Feb. 10 - After years of trying to find middle ground between the United States and North Korea, China now finds itself in a difficult diplomatic position with Pyongyang’s announcement that it has manufactured nuclear weapons and is suspending nuclear negotiations, Chinese foreign policy experts said today.
　　
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　　Chinese leaders have consistently urged the rest of the world, and especially the United States, to show more patience with North Korea. Beijing has consistently contended that it was unclear whether North Korea had developed nuclear weapons, notwithstanding a growing volume of American intelligence to the contrary.
　　
　　Confronted with a statement by Pyongyang mentioning that nuclear weapons had been manufactured, the Chinese government’s initial reaction today was silence. Later, in a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry’s chief spokesman, Kong Quan, Beijing said it hoped the six-party talks with North Korea would continue.
　　
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　　Mr. Kong endorsed the talks on Feb. 3, after a two-day visit by a special envoy from President Bush.
　　
　　“China has all along been staying in close contact with other parties to strive for the early start of the next round of the talks and favorable results thereof,“ Mr. Kong said then.
　　
　　Two state-run services, the China News Agency and the New China News Agency, each sent out articles late this afternoon describing North Korea’s decision to suspend indefinitely its participation in the six-country talks with China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States over Pyongyang’s nuclear program. But neither article highlighted North Korea’s mention of having nuclear weapons - even though the New China News Agency article quoted the North Korean statement at length and included portions citing the manufacture of nuclear weapons.
　　
　　North Korea’s suspension of the talks and acknowledgement of becoming a nuclear power puts Beijing in a quandary.
　　
　　“China is now facing a more awkward situation because China always tries to persuade states to be more patient,“ said Jin Canrong, the associate dean of the School of International Studies at People’s University here.
　　
　　Using North Korea’s official name for itself, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Mr. Jin went on to say that, “one excuse for China is that D.P.R.K. has not confirmed that it is a nuclear power“ until now.
　　
　　Mr. Jin predicted that the Chinese Foreign Ministry would be slow to respond publicly to today’s statement, as Chinese diplomats would try to decipher Pyongyang’s true intentions. North Korea has sometimes raised the stakes in the past just before returning to negotiations, as a way to demand greater foreign assistance in exchange for temporarily slowing its nuclear program.
　　
　　Chu Shulong, a foreign policy expert at Qinghua University, said that North Korea was sometimes prone to sharp changes in its language. As a result, China and other countries should not rush to respond to Pyongyang’s claim to have nuclear weapons, he said.
　　
　　“We should not take that too seriously, we should wait a moment - days or weeks - to see if they consistently say they have them,“ Mr. Chu added.
　　
　　If North Korea were to disavow today’s statement, or say that the statement had been somehow misconstrued, then this could make it easier for diplomatic negotiations to resume.
　　
　　Mr. Jin said that China may want to preserve its negotiating flexibility by coordinating its position mostly with Russia and South Korea, two countires that have been less critical of North Korea even as Japan and the United States have been strongly warning of the dangers of Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
　　
　　Michael Green, the senior director for Asia at the National Security Council, visited here on Feb. 1 and 2 and presented top Chinese officials, including President Hu Jintao, with American intelligence showing that North Korea had produced several tons of a uranium compound that wound up in Libya. He pressed China to increase diplomatic pressure on North Korea, which it heavily supports with fuel oil and other crucial supplies.
　　
　　Many Chinese diplomats are likely to have a personal reason for being upset with Pyongyang this week: today’s statement came in the middle of Chinese New Year celebrations, the biggest festival of the year.
　　
　　Offices across Beijing are empty following an exodus last weekend, as millions of people across China returned to their hometowns to celebrate the holidays with their families.