China confirmed Thursday
it will host six-way talks late this month on the Korean Peninsula
nuclear issue, saying they marked "an important step forward" in
efforts to defuse the 10-month standoff.
The Chinese Ministry of
Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the talks would take place
from August 27 to 29 in Beijing, bringing together the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Republic of Korea (ROK), the
United States, China, Russia and Japan.
"The convocation of the
meeting represents an important step towards a peaceful resolution
of the Korean nuclear issue," the statement said.
"As the host, China
stands ready to make all the preparations and work with the other
parties to promote the process of dialogue so as to ensure peace
and stability on the Korean Peninsula."
The announcement
followed a flurry of diplomatic activities to restart talks on the
standoff, which erupted last October after US officials claimed
Pyongyang had admitted to reviving a program to produce atomic
weapons.
The United States, Japan
and the ROK met in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday, preparing
for the six-way talks.
Chinese Foreign Minister
Li Zhaoxing visited Seoul on Wednesday after his Japan trip, and
envoys from the DPRK and the ROK held separate meetings in
Moscow.
Chinese Vice-Foreign
Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Alexander Losiukov
held in-depth discussions on the issue on Monday.
Earlier this month, Wang
also visited the DPRK and exchanged views on the issue.
Beijing hosted initial
talks with Washington and Pyongyang in April, but no details were
given out by the participants.
Piao Jianyi, executive
director of the Centre for Korean Peninsula Issues Studies of the
Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, said that currently the first step is for the DPRK and
the United States to build mutual trust so that an agreement would
become possible.
"One can optimistically
estimate that they (the DPRK and the US) may reach an oral
agreement after a long hard negotiation," Piao said, adding that
the coming talks were just a beginning and the process to resolve
the differences on the issue might take a long time.
(China Daily August 15,
2003)