NKorea humiliated China with nuke test-Australia

CANBERRA, Oct 10 (Reuters) North Korea ''humiliated China'' by carrying out a nuclear test in defiance of Beijing's requests to curb its nuclear weapons ambitions, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.

China, Pyongyang's strongest political and economic backer, denounced the test on Monday as ''brazen'', and urged North Korea to avoid action that could worsen the situation.

Downer said he had a brief protest meeting today with North Korea's ambassador in Australia, telling him ''North Korea had humiliated the Chinese government''.

''It was one thing to be offensive to the United States, Britain and Australia and their allies. But it is another thing to treat the Chinese, who have been such stalwart supporters of North Korea for such a long time, in this way,'' Downer said.

''The Chinese government had been working intensely to try and stop this testing from taking place.'' World powers condemned North Korea yesterday after it said it had conducted its first underground nuclear test, and Washington sought harsh UN sanctions that could further isolate the communist state.

US President George W Bush called it a ''provocative act'' that threatened international peace and security and said it required an immediate response from the UN Security Council.

The test was a sharp blow to Chinese President Hu Jintao's doctrine of using economic incentives and diplomatic coaxing to avert North Korea's drive to become a nuclear weapons state.

But China's Hu, feted as a friend when he visited North Korea last year, said Beijing believed there was still room for negotiations to end Pyongyang's nuclear weapons ambitions, China's official Xinhua news agency reported.

''China had always supported North Korea. Eighty percent of North Korea's aid comes from China, 50 per cent of North Korea's trade is with China,'' said Downer.

''The North Koreans have treated China extremely shabbily in this particularly situation.'' REUTERS DH RAI0712