- BEIJING (Reuters) - Vice
President Dick Cheney, armed with new evidence of North Korea's weapons
capabilities, told China Wednesday it was critical to move forward aggressively
to end Pyongyang's nuclear programs.
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- "Time is not necessarily on our side," a senior
administration official said after Cheney held talks with Chinese leaders
who have been brokering six-party talks on the reclusive North's nuclear
programs.
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- "It's important to move forward aggressively to
try to get this resolved as quickly as possible," he said, but did
not set a timetable.
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- The North Korean crisis has simmered since October 2002,
when U.S. officials say Pyongyang disclosed it was working on a clandestine
nuclear weapons program.
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- Asian security issues -- particularly the thorny issue
of Taiwan -- have dominated the two days of talks in Beijing between Cheney
and China's leaders, although both sides stressed overall Sino-U.S. relations
were sound.
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- Cheney summed up his talks with China saying he did not
come expecting dramatic action.
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- "I didn't come expecting to alter Chinese policy,"
Cheney told reporters. "What you do is continue to work away at it."
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- Washington says intelligence from A.Q. Khan, a Pakistani
scientist believed to have sold nuclear technology to North Korea as well
as to Libya and Iran, provides third-party confirmation that Pyongyang
probably already has nuclear weapons.
-
- U.S. officials say they hope the information will end
what they see as lingering Chinese doubts. The New York Times said Khan
told Pakistani interrogators he saw three nuclear devices during a trip
to North Korea five years ago.
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- "Any question about whether or not North Korea had
a program based upon highly enriched uranium has been pretty well resolved
in our minds as a result ... from wrapping up the A.Q. Khan-Libyan connection,"
the official said.
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- "We are confident they do have such a program."
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- CHINESE DOUBTS
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- "These recent developments emphasize the need for
completing the task here," the senior U.S. official told reporters.
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- China has played host at the two rounds of six-party
talks on North Korea in Beijing and has been credited with bringing Pyongyang
to the table.
-
- "I don't question the sincerity of the Chinese,"
the official said. "They share our view that (a nuclear armed North
Korea) would be a destabilizing development in this part of the world,
and therefore have been willing to step up."
-
- But U.S. officials have been frustrated by what they
see as Chinese doubts about U.S. intelligence on North Korea, and hope
Khan's remarks will convince Beijing of the issue's urgency.
-
- China has made no comment on the latest intelligence,
but said Wednesday it hoped for progress toward further talks. The six
parties have agreed to hold another round before the end of June.
-
- "The U.S. is willing to make efforts toward a diplomatic
settlement on this issue," a foreign ministry spokeswoman said.
-
- "Both countries hope that the peaceful process can
be continued," she said.
-
- Beijing, the North's closest ally and biggest supplier
of food and fuel aid, has called for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula but
worries about isolating Pyongyang.
-
- In turn, Chinese leaders pressed Cheney to halt U.S.
arms sales to Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province, fearing
they are encouraging the island's pro-independence camp.
-
- "Sino-U.S. ties will have more room for development
if the Taiwan issue is well handled," Xinhua news agency quoted Jiang
Zemin as saying.
-
- Cheney defended the arms sales, but sought to reassure
his hosts that Washington did not support independence for Taiwan and opposed
action by either side to upset the status quo.
-
- A senior administration official said Cheney did not
make a "formal offer" to mediate between China and Taiwan. But
Cheney "did talk about our hope that at some point they could resume
a dialogue ... to reduce the risk of miscalculations, to avoid confrontations."
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- The U.S. vice president made little headway on trade
and currency issues.
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- He pressed China to let the market determine the value
of the tightly held yuan currency, the latest in a long line of American
officials who have pressed Beijing on currency reform.
-
- Premier Wen Jiabao signaled little movement was imminent
on the yuan, saying the current level of the currency conformed to the
economic and financial reality of China.
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- China has pledged to find ways to make the currency regime
more flexible, but has rejected calls for a revaluation.
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- U.S. officials played down any prospect of a breakthrough,
saying China was treading cautiously.
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