Kerry Presses China on N. Korea, Regional Tensions

Calum MacLeod | USA TODAY | February 14, 2014

BEIJING – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry praised China’s commitment Friday to forcing ally North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program, adding Chinese leaders were considering additional steps to pressure Pyongyang.

Analysts in Beijing, however, say they doubt China will make major policy changes toward North Korea, or in regards to China’s territorial disputes with several neighbors — another tricky issue where Kerry urged Chinese leaders to take a “less confrontational” approach.

After an easy start to his four-nation trip that included a stop in Seoul on Thursday, Kerry faced a tougher diplomatic task Friday in China, where the government resents U.S. criticism of Beijing’s increasingly assertive role in the region.

North Korea “must take meaningful, concrete and irreversible steps towards verifiable denuclearization, and it needs to begin now,” Kerry told reporters. “China could not have more forcefully reiterated its commitment to that goal.”

While in Seoul, Kerry noted how heavily North Korea relies on China for energy, banking and other areas, but Chinese analysts say they doubt Beijing will significantly increase pressure on its ally.

After the execution in December of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s uncle Jang Song Thaek, the repressive state remains in “a very fragile moment,” said Wang Dong, a Northeast Asia expert at Peking University.

NK’s entire existance since the War has been fragile.