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| Courtesy of news.xinhuanet.com : Chinese President Hu Jintao (R) meets with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in Beijing, capital of China |
News article from Nytimes.comBy: Edward Wong
BEIJING — President Hu JinTao of China met with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda of Japan here on Monday and discussed how the two nations could work together to “maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” according to a report by Xinhua, the state news agency.
The meeting was the first between Mr. Hu and a leader of another East Asian nation since North Korea announced the death of its longtime leader, Kim Jong-il. State news broadcasts in North Korea have been proclaiming Mr. Kim’s son, Kim Jong-un, the “Great Successor.” Mr. Kim is in his late 20s, and he is in transition to becoming the youngest leader of a nation with a nuclear arms program. His uncle, Jang Song-taek, also appears to be playing a prominent role in the shaping of the new leadership.
Japan, South Korea and the United States are all looking to China to ensure that North Korea, a communist nation that has endured decades of isolation, remains stable during the power transition. The Xinhua report on Mr. Noda’s visit indicates that stability, both inside North Korea and on the divided Korean Peninsula, is also the top priority for China, which is North Korea’s greatest ally and biggest trade partner.
Mr. Noda told Mr. Hu that Japan was relying on China to play a significant role in ensuring stability, according to a Reuters report that cited an anonymous Japanese official.
The report quoted the official as saying that Mr. Noda told Mr. Hu: “It is important that we will not let the death of the Chairman of the National Defense Commission Kim have a negative impact on the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula. Under these circumstance, the role of China, which is the chair country of the six-party talks and has a big influence on North Korea, is extremely important.”
China began leading the six-party talks, which are aimed at getting North Korea to curb its nuclear program, in August 2003. The others countries involved in the talks are Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the United States. North Korea withdrew from the talks in April 2009 and expelled all nuclear inspectors from the country.
Japanese news reports that appeared before Mr. Noda’s trip here said Mr. Noda would talk to Mr. Hu about restarting the six-party talks. China has often said that negotiations with North Korea are the way forward.
In 2010, China refused to comply with requests by the United States and South Korea to condemn North Korea following the sinking of the Cheonan, a South Korean warship that officials in Seoul and Washington said had been hit by a torpedo from a North Korean submarine. North Korea has denied any involvement. China also did not publicly criticize North Korea when it shelled Yeonpyeong Island in South Korea in late 2010. But behind the scenes, Chinese officials worked to try to rein in the North Korean military, the most powerful interest group in the country, according to officials in Washington.
Mr. Noda had originally scheduled the two-day trip to Beijing to talk about strengthening bilateral ties between China and Japan. The sudden news of Mr. Kim’s death has become the top priority, but bilateral ties were also discussed, Xinhua reported. Mr. Noda, who was making his first trip to China as prime minister, met with Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Sunday.
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