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POLITICS: China's Nuclear Policy in Iran, N. Korea Gets Critical
By Antoaneta Bezlova
BEIJING, Sep 18, 2005 (IPS) - As North Korea ups the stakes in a poker game of nuclear negotiations and Iran faces a showdown at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) this week, China's policy of avoiding clear-cut choices over support for countries, considered international outlaws by the United States, is reaching a critical point.
Six-party talks over Pyongyang's nuclear programme that had resumed on Sunday after China, the hosts, failed to broker any deal between the United States and North Korea on Saturday has now been extended into Monday in the hopes of an agreement that also involves Russia, Japan and South Korea.
''The talks are nearing the end and will continue on Monday,'' said Chinese delegation spokesman Liu Jianchiao as differences persisted over mention in the draft joint-document, proposed by Beijing, of the construction of a light-water reactor that Pyongyang insists on having as part of its civilian nuclear programme.
Beijing has repeatedly argued that its friendly bilateral ties with North Korea and Iran have enabled it to play a moderating role in those regional crises. Detractors have, however, countered that its attitude stems purely from self-interest.
Possession of nuclear weapons by Pyongyang would threaten China, and any further crisis in the hermit republic would unleash a refugee exodus across the border. As North Korea's oldest ally, economic benefactor and a U.N. Security Council (UNSC) member with veto-yielding power, China wields enormous clout in Pyongyang.
However, ever since Pyongyang expelled the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors in 2003 and quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Beijing has resisted efforts to censure North Korea at the UNSC.
In the case of Iran, Beijing's encouragement of Tehran in its obstructive attitude towards attempts to rein in its nuclear ambitions can be linked to China's huge oil interests in that country.
China, which has become the world's second largest oil importer over the past decade, currently gets 14 percent of its oil imports from Iran and wants to step up imports of Iran's natural gas too.
When Chinese President Hu Jintao met with U.S. President George W. Bush, before the UN General Assembly convened in New York last week, he offered no concrete steps on getting North Korea and Iran to give up their nuclear weapons programme. He merely promised to urge Iran to follow the mandates of the IAEA.
Previously, China's ambassador to the UN, Wang Guangya had
expressed reluctance to see Iran's uranium-enrichment activities sent to the UNSC. ''I don't think IAEA talks will be helpful to bring the issue to the [security] council. The council has too many things on its table. Why should we add to this,'' Wang was quoted as saying.
But U.S. patience may be wearing thin. A little more than a week ago, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cited Russia, China and India as vital potential partners in telling Iranian leaders to ''live up to their international obligations'' to suspend uranium conversion and enrichment permanently.
The same sense of growing urgency was reflected in Bush's comments when he lobbied Hu not to block action by the IAEA this week to refer Iran's work on uranium enrichment to the UNSC.
Iran suspended enrichment work late last year, but resumed it in August saying the West's offer of incentives, for dropping the uranium conversion and enrichment work permanently, was inadequate.
In the six-nation talks to try to defuse the North Korean nuclear issue, China has indeed played a more constructive, though still ambiguous, role. When the latest negotiations stalled amid Pyongyang's insistence on possessing a costly light-water nuclear reactor, Beijing tabled a new compromise agreement.
The proposal in principle affirmed the North's right to peaceful nuclear power and promised Pyongyang it would receive the reactor at some future point, but it also reflected the U.S. demands that any such steps occur after Pyongyang dismantles its nuclear weapons.
Pyongyang has threatened to extract more plutonium in its atomic weapons programme if its demands were not met.
If there is no breakthrough in the current contacts, the Bush administration will have to decide whether to abandon the talks altogether and face a confrontation with the Stalinist regime of Kim Jung-Il.
Any attempt to punish Pyongyang for its nuclear brinkmanship - whether it is a UNSC resolution condemning the regime and applying economic sanctions, or a U.S. naval blockade, would force Beijing to consider what is more important - good relations with Washington and moving in the global mainstream or defending North Korea.
How Beijing responds to the Pyongyang and Tehran nuclear challenges in the coming week would test China's commitment to prevent nuclear proliferation. North Korea has become the first country to walk away from the NPT and has threatened to test a nuclear device.
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing joined world leaders on Sep.15 in signing an international treaty, which defines as a crime the possession of radioactive material with the intention of committing a terrorist act.
China's signing of the Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism indicates the country's determination to combat terrorism and its support for international efforts to prevent proliferation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Beijing.
''China never helps any country to develop nuclear arms,'' spokesman Qin Gang told reporters.
While the talks were proceeding in Beijing, in New York, Condoleezza Rice said negotiations were only part of the effort to contain the spread of nuclear weapons. She warned that those who spread atomic weapons faced a potential freeze on their assets. (END)
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