Published on August 27, 2005

China appreciated Thailand’s complementary role in supporting six-party talks on the Korean peninsula nuclear rift, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said yesterday.

Li told reporters after a meeting here with Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon, who will arrive in Pyongyang today, that Beijing was pleased by Thailand’s understanding of the constructive role it was playing in pushing for a peaceful end to the dispute.

China is consulting with other concern parties in a bid to start the second phase of the fourth round of talks by next week, Li said, adding that a date for the talks had not yet been fixed.

The plan is for China, together with the United States, Russia, Japan, South Korea and North Korea, to again sit down and try to end Pyongyang’s ambition to develop a nuclear weapon.

Kantathi said Thailand, which is not directly involved in the talks, would employ its good relations with Pyongyang and other countries concerned in order to push forward the negotiations.

Li and he have already exchanged views on the development of the Korean Peninsula with their counterparts from the US and South Korea, he said.

All parties expressed their wish for the peninsula to be free of nuclear weapons, he said.

But a major division remains. Secretive North Korea says it has the right to develop a nuclear reactor for peaceful purposes such as energy production, but the other countries do not trust North Korea and want Pyongyang to return to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect the country.

“The heart of the matter is how to build trust among concerned parties to ensure that the peninsula is free from nuclear weapons,” Kantathi said.

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation

Beijing

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