China reluctant to hold five-party nuclear talks

Tokyo, Jul 22: China has signalled its reluctance to hold five-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions in Malaysia next week, if the reclusive communist state refuses to meet, Japanese media reported today.

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing expressed Beijing's view to a senior Japanese diplomat in Beijing yesterday, Japanese media quoted Japanese Foreign Ministry officials as saying.

US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said on Friday Washington was considering five-party talks without North Korea in Malaysia because ''we just don't want a situation where we don't meet at all because one party doesn't want to meet''.

Top diplomats of the six nations involved in talks over North Korea's weapons programmes, the two Koreas, China, Japan, the United States and Russia, will be in Kuala Lumpur for the ASEAN Regional Forum, an annual venue for talks on defence and security in Asia.

Li told the Japanese diplomat that China would try to arrange a meeting of top diplomats from the six countries in Kuala Lumpur, the Japanese Foreign Ministry officials were quoted as saying in Beijing.

The six-party talks stalled last November after Pyongyang objected to US financial sanctions imposed on the North for allegedly counterfeiting US currency and trafficking in drugs.

North Korea has drawn harsh international condemnation for test-launching seven missiles on July 5.

The UN Security Council voted unanimously on July 15 for a resolution demanding North Korea halt its ballistic missile programme and requiring nations to prevent Pyongyang from acquiring dangerous weapons.

REUTERS