Chinese President wins North Korean pledge on nuke talks
From Max Lee
The Daily Mail’s Special
Correspondent in Beijing

BEIJING—Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in North Korea and seemed to immediately win a pledge from his host, dictator Kim Jong-Il, for the secretive regime to attend upcoming nuclear talks.
The next and fifth round of six-party talks involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States is expected in Beijing in November.
"North Korea will attend the fifth round of six-party talks as scheduled, based on the commitments it has previously made," Kim said shortly after Hu arrived by plane in Pyongyang, according to Chinese state television.
"North Korea adheres to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, and adheres to a solution of the issue through dialogue," Kim was quoted as telling his Chinese guest. Hu, in North Korea on a three-day visit, advised Kim not to veer from the road of dialogue, according to the report.
"China stresses the need to stick to the objective of a nuclear-free peninsula, and stick to a course of dialogue and peaceful resolution, so as to preserve peace and stability on the peninsula and in the region," he said.
Earlier in the day, Hu was welcomed by Kim, dressed in a bulky jacket, and a young woman who treated the Chinese leader to a hearty embrace, Chinese state TV showed.
Hu was shown driving to downtown Pyongyang behind a police motorcycle escort riding in a carefully choreographed formation as masses of North Koreans dressed in traditional costumes lined the road.
Hu's main mission is to convince his hosts of the need to stick to commitments they made in nuclear talks in Beijing in September, and China's own stake in the game ensures that he will be speaking forcefully, analysts said. "This is critical to China's image as a rising power and its credibility and ability in delivering results," said Jing-dong Yuan, an expert on Asian non-proliferation at California's Monterey Institute of International Studies.
"But most important, failure would completely rupture the six-party process, which in turn could lead to further deterioration of the peninsular and indeed Northeast Asian security situation," he said. At the last round of talks, North Korea agreed to a statement of principles that could potentially end the prolonged standoff.
Under the principles, North Korea would give up its nuclear weapons program in return for energy and security guarantees. But soon after agreeing to the statement, Pyongyang said it would not dismantle its nuclear arsenal before the United States supplies it with a light-water atomic reactor to generate electricity.
The United States says North Korea, a self-avowed nuclear power, must first disarm before getting incentive bonuses, including the nuclear reactor.
The signs that the entire deal could yet unravel may put Hu in an awkward situation, as it is likely he only agreed to visit the impoverished country after it promised to be more forthcoming. "The North Koreans have been trying to get Hu to make a reciprocal visit for over a year but he had held off until the six-party talks were resumed," said Ralph Cossa, president of Honolulu-based think tank Pacific Forum CSIS.
"I assume this was part of the 'incentives' that got Pyongyang back to the table and then got them to sign the statement in September." If North Korea backpedals at the next round of talks, it could trigger the rage even of China, arguably its oldest and most reliable ally.
"China's patience is running thin," said Cossa. "The risk to Hu in going is that if North Korea plays games at the next round in early November, it also discredits China's and Hu's personal diplomacy skills".

China to increase quake aid by $13.8m
Bureau Report

BEIJING—China will again provide with cash and materials worthing 13.8 million US dollars to Pakistan as quake relief aid, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said here Thursday.
China has decided to send a medical team to the quake-hit area in Pakistan and considered to build up an earthquake-monitoring network for the country, Kong said.
According to Kong, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Moscow when they attended a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Wen again expressed sympathy to Aziz with the heavy human casualties caused by the strong earthquake.
Previously, China has already offered 6.2-million-dollar-worth aid to Pakistan.
The death toll of the earthquake in South Asia has reported to reach more than 54,000.
Hu’s DPRK trip: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan made comments here Thursday on Chinese President Hu Jintao's upcoming visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
According to an earlier announcement made by Guo Yezhou, spokesman for the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, Hu will pay official good-will visits to the DPRK and Vietnam between Oct. 28 and Nov. 2.
Hu will visit the DPRK between Oct. 28 and 30 as guest of Kim Jong-il, general secretary of the Worker's Party of Korea and Chairman of the National Defence Commission.
During the DPRK tour, Hu, who will pay the visit in the capacity of both general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China(CPC) and Chinese President, will hold talks with DPRK party and state leaders on relations between the CPC and the Workers' Party of Korea and between China and the DPRK, Kong said.
The two sides will also exchange views on international and regional affairs of mutual interest, Kong said.
Hu's Vietnam trip, due from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, will be made at the invitation of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nong Duc Manh and Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong.
In Vietnam, Hu will hold talks with Manh and Luong, which are expected to cover a wide range of issues," Kong said.
The growth of China-Vietnam relations is ˇ°generally good", he said. The continuous consolidation and enhancement of friendly ties between China and Vietnam complies with the fundamental interests of the two peoples, he said.
China hopes the visit could play a due role in further implementing the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries, enhancing bilateral cooperation and uplifting bilateral ties to a new height, Kong said.
Call to Japan: China urged Japan to take action to fulfill its promise on reviewing invasion war, and never do anything more to hurt the feelings of the Chinese people, said a Foreign Ministry spokesman on Thursday.
"The Japanese side should fully realize the seriousness of this matter," said Kong Quan, adding that Japan should earnestly win trust from the Asian neighbors and international community.
When commenting on Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's plea on his current visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, Kong said the responsibility for the current difficult relations between China and Japan does not lie in China.
A right-wing force in Japan has always beautified the invasion war launched by the Japanese militarism, and refused to admit the crimes of aggression, Kong said.
"Their acts severely hurt the feeling of the people of all Asian victimized countries, and violate the principles in the three political documents between China and Japan," he said.
As a government leader, Koizumi stubbornly keeps visiting Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 Class-A war criminals." This randomly impairs the political foundation of Sino-Japanese relations," the spokesman said.
He noted in order to safeguard Sino-Japanese friendship as well as peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region, China, in the principle of learning from history and facing the future, has done a lot of work on the Japanese side, and hopes Koizumi would take attitude of being responsible for history, peoples, and the general situation of Sino-Japanese friendly relations to make a correct political decision on war shrine visiting.
"However, Koizumi insists on acting on his own way and thus constitutes obstacles to normal development of Sino-Japanese relationship," he said.
Energy co-op: The Chinese government has all along taken a positive view on energy cooperation with foreign countries, including those with its neighbors, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan here Thursday.
Kong made the remarks when commenting on the successful acquisition of Canada-based PetroKazakhstan Inc.(PK) by China National Petroleum Corporation(CNPC) through its wholly-owned subsidiary company Thursday morning.
Both the Chinese and Kazakstan governments have voiced their support for the cooperation between their energy companies based on equality and mutual benefit so as to achieve common progress and prosperity, he said.
PetroKazakhstan Inc. is an international energy company registered in Canada, with all of its assets, such as oilfields and refineries, in the Republic of Kazakhstan. PK's annual crude production capacity exceeds 7 million tons.
Since its first presence in Kazakhstan in 1997, CNPC has developed sound relationship with local government by strictly following local laws and regulations as well as international conventions of the industry.