The US' top North Korea negotiator has denied that China is making its cooperation in defusing the Korean Peninsula's nuclear crisis conditional on US efforts to press Taipei into accepting Beijing's demands on Taiwan.
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Christopher Hill, the top US negotiator to the six-party talks in Beijing, made his comment at a press briefing in Washington for the international media.
He was in Washington to report to the government after a recess in the fourth round of talks. A stalemate was reached over the weekend following Pyongyang's demands regarding its nuclear-power program.
Asked about speculation that China has linked the Korea and Taiwan issues, Hill issued a categorical denial.
"I've heard this issue about these, you know, tradeoffs with Taiwan, but I've only heard it in the media," he said in response to a reporter's question. "I have never ever -- and I've had numerous discussions with the Chinese about DPRK [North Korea] and the nuclear problem, and we have never mixed up the Taiwan issue," he said.
"Although, obviously, we've talked about the Taiwan issue many times, but never in connection with the DPRK's nuclear problem. So I can put that to rest right now," he said.
While there has been speculation for years about Beijing tying North Korea negotiations to the Taiwan issue, Beijing has not made any link explicit.
US officials have denied it, as have other specialists and sources in Washington over the years.
However, Hill's denial is the most authoritative and definitive to come from the administration.
In his position in the current six-party talks, and in his previous position as ambassador to South Korea, Hill has probably had more experience on the matter than anybody in Washington, and has probably talked with the Chinese leadership about the issue more than any other US official.
The latest round of talks broke down on Sunday when North Korea unexpectedly made a late demand for the right to operate light-water nuclear reactors, which US officials fear Pyongyang could use to develop nuclear weapons.
As a result, the talks are in a three-week recess after progressing for nearly two weeks. The talks could resume as soon as next month.
China and the US have regularly criticized each other for their actions -- or lack of action -- in bringing the nuclear issue to a resolution, but in the latest round of talks the atmosphere between the two nations was reported to be much more congenial.
Nevertheless, despite past criticism from Beijing, Washington sees Chinese cooperation as vital to any efforts to solve the North Korean nuclear issue. As a result, there has been persistent speculation that China has leaned on US officials for concessions on Taiwan as the price for cooperation on Korea.
Such speculation peaked during the end of 2003 and early last year, when US President George W. Bush and his administration adopted a decidedly unfriendly stance toward President Chen Shui-bian (
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
RSS