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Reuters | Sky News |  PhotosMonday March 31, 09:10 AM |
China tries to rein in North Korea By Benjamin Kang Lim
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has briefly cut off crucial oil supplies to
North Korea recently in an apparent bid to rein in its unpredictable
neighbour after Pyongyang test-fired missiles, diplomats say.
It was the first sign of Beijing appearing willing to use its economic
muscle to twist arms in Pyongyang after months of criticism from
Washington for failing to do enough to pressure North Korea to curb its
nuclear ambitions.
Talk of Chinese pressure on its longtime ally came as a South Korean
envoy, national security adviser Ra Jong-yil, headed to Russia and China
to restart stalled efforts on a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.
China cited technical problems for the three-day shutdown in March of
an oil pipeline running from its northeastern province of Liaoning to
North Korea, but the message was clear: behave, a Western diplomat said.
"It was cut for three days after the second missile," the diplomat
quoted Chinese sources as saying, referring to North Korea firing a cruise
missile into the Sea of Japan on March 10, Pyongyang's second missile test
in two weeks.
"The tough message was: get straight," the diplomat told Reuters on
Monday.
One Asian diplomat gave a different time frame, February, for the
urgent need to repair the pipeline.
"Many Chinese are talking about it, but it's not 100 percent
confirmed," the diplomat said. China said the disruption of oil supply was
"unintentional", but North Korea lodged a strong protest, he added.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment and state oil
firm China National Petroleum Corp and trader Sinochem denied any
suspension of oil supply to North Korea -- estimated at one million tonnes
a year -- in the past two months.
MAIN SUPPLIER
China, which fought alongside North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War,
remains the main supplier of food and oil to the isolated Communist state
despite establishing ties with South Korea in 1992.
Diplomatic sources said Chinese officials have met their North Korean
counterparts in public and in private up to 60 times since tensions began
last October when Washington said North Korea had admitted covertly
working to develop nuclear arms in violation of a 1994 accord.
Tensions escalated further after Pyongyang withdrew from a nuclear
non-proliferation pact, expelled weapons inspectors and test-fired two
missiles.
Beijing does not want a nuclear armed Pyongyang. The prospect, China's
worst nightmare, creates visions of Japan, South Korea and even its
longtime rival Taiwan going nuclear.
Nor does it want sanctions, at least publicly, fearing more
brinksmanship from North Korea, or even a collapse that would send
millions of hungry refugees pouring into China.
It was unclear, however, how much could be gained from talks while the
United States wages war on Iraq.
North Korea, Iraq and Iran were labelled by U.S. President George W.
Bush as part of an "axis of evil", and Pyongyang fears it may be next on
Washington's hit list.
"The Chinese are trying hard, but it's not working," the Western
diplomat said. "The Chinese are tremendously worried about the course.
This is not exactly headed in the direction of negotiation,"
"North Korea doesn't believe the United States will negotiate in good
faith," he said. "It's about regime survival."
Watching the U.S.-led Iraqi invasion unfold, Pyongyang has speculated
openly that it could be next on Bush's hit list.
"North Korea is convinced it's next after Iraq," said Gao Heng, a
senior reseach fellow at the Institute of World Economic and Politics.
Pyongyang insists any nuclear programme it may have would be purely
defensive in face of what it perceives as an American military threat to
its very existence. |
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