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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has landed in China on the most delicate – but potentially most promising – leg of a tour to turn the screw on North Korea after its first atom bomb test.
Rice, who flew in from Seoul, landed just before 10:00 am (0200 GMT) for a hectic round of meetings with China's leaders, including President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.
On the eve of her visit to China, North Korea's closest ally and long-time protector, a Chinese presidential envoy met North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in a bid to pull his Stalinist regime back from the nuclear brink.
No details emerged from Thursday's meeting between Kim and Tang Jiaxuan, who according to the Chinese foreign ministry delivered a message from Hu during what was described as a “significant” visit aimed at resolving the crisis.
A senior US official travelling with Rice said her talks in Beijing would focus on Tang's meeting with Kim, with the aim of finding out what came out of it and whether there were any signs of movement from Pyongyang.
US officials said Thursday that Tang was believed to have delivered “a very strong message” to North Korea not to carry out further weapons tests — something Western intelligence services say is a real possibility.
The October 9 announcement of the impoverished nation's first nuclear test triggered global outrage and sweeping UN sanctions which China has promised to “faithfully implement,” despite earlier reluctance.
China is North Korea's biggest trade and aid partner and holds the key to enforcing the UN embargo on shipments in and out of the country of weapons of mass destruction or related materials, as well as trade in luxury goods.
Tang's meeting in Pyongyang was all the more important in that the former Chinese foreign minister had met US President George W. Bush and Russian leaders days earlier.
Washington has long insisted that Chinese pressure is crucial to convincing Pyongyang to return to stalled six-party negotiations on ending its nuclear program.
Those talks reached a deal a year ago under which the North agreed to give up its nuclear arms in exchange for security guarantees and massive aid, but Pyongyang backed out in November to protest at US sanctions against a bank in Macau accused of counterfeiting and laundering money for the regime.
Beijing is reluctant to put too much pressure on the unstable and isolated nation, fearing its collapse would lead to South Korea, a key US ally, holding land all the way to its border and raising a specter of millions of starving refugees flooding the country.
Nevertheless, there have been signs this week along China's 1,400-kilometer (880-mile) border with North Korea that Chinese officials had begun inspecting cargo vehicles.
In Seoul, where Rice held three-way talks with her counterparts from South Korea and Japan, she expressed hope the Chinese envoy would convince the North Koreans to disarm and return to negotiations.
But a senior aide to the US secretary of state said “no breakthrough” was expected to be announced Friday, and revealed that Kim had kept Tang waiting 24 hours before finally meeting him.
“Our understanding is the North Koreans have not been in a mood to return to the talks and if anything the North Koreans are looking to escalate the crisis further,” the official said.
Rice is also expected to reassure the Chinese that neither South Korea or Japan will seek to arm themselves with nuclear weapons in response to North Korea's provocations.
In both Tokyo and Seoul, Rice this week repeated that Washington would “fully” honor defense agreements obliging it to defend both allies — with nuclear weapons if needed — in case either is attacked.
The UN resolution bans trade with North Korea related to its development of nuclear arms, ballistic missiles and other weapons of mass destruction, and imposes financial controls to starve the North Korean military of funds.
The most controversial measure calls for the inspection of cargo to and from North Korea, aimed at preventing its cash-strapped government selling material for an atomic bomb or other illicit weapons to terrorists.
