US and China must play equal roles in removing nuclear weapons from Korean peninsula, ex-Chinese diplomat Yang Xiyu says
- China and the US will manage to work together on the North Korea nuclear issue, despite their worsening bilateral ties, Yang says
- Talks involving the US, China and two Koreas would be realistic, says former official in the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Office for Korean Peninsula Issues
The US and China must play equal roles in bringing about the removal of nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula and bringing peace to the region, a former top Chinese diplomat said on Wednesday.
Yang Xiyu, a former inaugural director in the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Office for Korean Peninsula Issues, also suggested Beijing would continue to cooperate with Washington on the North Korean nuclear issue despite rising US-China tensions, because it benefited the Chinese government to do so.
“China insists on four-party talks [on the Korean peninsula nuclear issue],” Yang said during a Korea Society event in New York, referring to negotiations that would include the US, China and the two Koreas. “This is the most realistic and reliable format for a sustainable permanent peace regime,” he said.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last year agreed at Panmunjom – a village in the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas – to stop all “hostile acts”, and work together to officially end the Korean war with a permanent peace agreement.
The pact would be reached through trilateral talks between the two Koreas and the US, or four-party talks including China, according to the Panmunjom agreement.