bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Liu Zhen

China’s top envoy to Japan suggested on Sunday that there was only a slim chance of a resumption in six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme.
“It is like a tunnel. I feel we haven’t found the end yet,” ambassador Cheng Yonghua said on the sidelines of the annual political advisory body meeting.
Following North Korea’s nuclear test and rocket launch earlier this year, China last week backed the United Nations’ “toughest” sanctions yet on Pyongyang.
But Beijing has also urged its neighbour to give up its nuclear weapons programme and return to six-party talks, which also include South Korea, Japan, Russia and the United States.
READ MORE: China’s thick red media line on what journalists can write about communist ally North Korea
Six rounds of the talks were held between 2003 and 2007 before North Korea pulled out and resumed its nuclear programme.
“At the moment we have not yet found a mechanism better than the six-party talks,” said Cheng, who was also Chinese ambassador to South Korea from 2008 to 2010.“When the talks were on, we made some gains. When they’re off, problems keep occurring one after another.”
Cheng said the six-party talks could help lay out a safe and stable blueprint for Northeast Asia. He urged all parties to go back to the negotiating table to resolve the problems through dialogue.
READ MORE: North Korea responds to ‘toughest ever’ sanctions by launching short-range missiles into the sea
Cheng also said the prospect of a meeting between President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Nuclear Security Summit in the US in the end of this month depended on the leaders’ schedule and whether the two sides could move towards improving bilateral ties.
“The reason we can’t improve our relations lies in how Japan looks at China’s development,” he said.
Japanese media speculated last year that Cheng, who has spent six years in Japan as China’s ambassador, would succeed Wu Dawei as special representative for Korean peninsula affairs. Wu was China’s top negotiator in many of the six-party talks.
When asked about his next role, Cheng said his present mission was his existing job.
.


Will ties between Japan and South Korea worsen if Yoon Suk-yeol is ousted?

A world in crisis needs a smooth US presidential transition

Will Kim Jong-un reopen dialogue with US? All eyes on North Korean party plenum for answers

How Donald Trump’s push to end Ukraine war tips his hand on China, Russia and North Korea

North Korea nuclear crisis

No light at end of N Korea nuclear tunnel: Chinese ambassador to Japan

An undated picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on March 4, 2016 showing a test-fire of the new large-calibre rocket at an undisclosed location.

News

China

Diplomacy

China's 'Two Sessions' 2016