China denies missile link
By Willy Wo-Lap Lam
CNN Senior China Analyst
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Colin Powell meets Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan in Beijing.
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SPECIAL REPORT
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| KOREAN ARMISTICE |
- Ceasefire agreement signed between U.S. and North Korean forces 27 July, 1953 - No peace treaty ever signed, meaning both sides effectively still at war - Agreement divided Korean Peninsula along the 38th parallel, creating a heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South - Armistice overseen by U.S.-led United Nations Command and the North Korean military at "truce village" of Panmunjom.
- 650,000 South Korean troops and 37,000 U.S. troops on South side of DMZ; More than one million North Korean troops on North's side |
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HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Beijing has angrily denied the missile Pyongyang fired into the Sea of Japan, or East Sea, earlier this week was imported from China or made with Chinese technology.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said Beijing was still investigating the circumstances behind the North Korean test-firing of a short-range missile a few hours before Tuesday's inauguration of the South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.
State media on Wednesday quoted Kong as saying all parties concerned should maintain a "cool and restrained" attitude toward the missile incident so as to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
The spokesman denied speculation in some Japanese and South Korean media that the North Korea missile in question had been manufactured with the help of China, Pyongyang's traditional ally.
"All reports, whether indirect or direct, that the [North Korean] missile is China's, or made in China, or made with Chinese technology, are extremely irresponsible and without foundation," Kong said.
U.S. 'should listen'
Meanwhile, Beijing has rebuffed the suggestion by the U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was in China on Monday, that the Korean nuclear crisis be tackled by a multinational framework that includes China, Russia, Japan and the United Nations.
Kong said in his Foreign Ministry briefing that "a political and peaceful resolution of the Korean nuclear issue requires the U.S. to open bilateral and direct dialogue with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea."
He added that Washington should "listen more to different voices" on the Korean issue.
Kong said China's position on the issue remained unchanged, adding that Beijing supported non-nuclearization on the peninsula and maintained the problem be solved through political and diplomatic means.
Diplomatic analysts in Beijing said while Chinese diplomats had been in frequent consultation with counterparts in Pyongyang, the Chinese government was adamant the nuclear crisis be defused through dialogue between North Korea and the U.S.
The analysts said while Beijing had been the principal supplier of military technology to North Korea, it rejected any suggestion China could exert influence on Pyongyang's weapons development program.
