So much for those who say the President is incompetent or inflexible. North Korea has proposed talks with the US and China.
The United States and North Korea will try to resolve their six-month standoff over Pyongyang's suspected nuclear weapons program in talks arranged by China, the communist North's closest ally, U.S. and South Korean officials said Wednesday.The Beijing talks could happen as early as next week, officials said. Japanese media, citing unnamed sources, said they would start April 23.
Earlier, NK had insisted on one-on-one talks with the US, refusing any multilateral talks with other powers in the region, a US prereq for talks. The US wanted China to take the lead in reigning in NK. There was no movement on either front until recently. China suspended oil shipments to NK for three days, blaming it on 'technical matters." NK got the message, and the pressure from China, along with the results of the War on Iraq, helped convince NK to soften their stance, and accept China as host of the talks. Bush compromised by aggreeing to the talks, even though other regional powers, like Japan, are not involved.
As I said earlier, our action in Iraq will yield diplomatic benefits far beyond the Middle East. As Teddy Roosevelt said, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." America dropped the stick over the last 12 years or so. President Bush picked it back up.
Posted by Rich at April 17, 2003 11:10 AM | TrackBack