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Opinion / Op-Ed Contributors

Making peace with the past

By Zhang Tuosheng (China Daily) Updated: 2011-06-16 07:54

As an important diplomatic move, China decided to simultaneously develop friendly and cooperative ties with the two Koreas after the end of the Cold War and then went all out to help improve ties between the two Koreas and between Pyongyang and the US and Japan. With this diplomatic approach, China joined other countries pushing for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the signing of a lasting peace agreement to replace the existing ceasefire.

At a time when the fragile security situation on the Korean Peninsula can be intensified at any time, China should, as it has in the past, continue to adhere to its long-cherished policy of peaceful talks and should firmly oppose any activities detrimental to regional peace.

Beijing should maintain its stance and policies aimed at promoting denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and resolving the issues through dialogue.

The Korean nuclear crisis indicates that the peace and stability of the peninsula will be fragile if denuclearization is not achieved. To this end, all parties concerned should stick to the six-way talks and offer the DPRK security reassurances.

At the same time, some practical measures should be taken to effectively forestall any activities which might aggravate the situation, including preventing Pyongyang's acquisition of more nuclear materials and other steps to improve its nuclear capability and promote nuclear proliferation, as well as the US' deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in the ROK.

China should also throw its weight behind Pyongyang's efforts to improve people's living conditions and accelerate economic construction. It should reassure Pyongyang that abandoning its nuclear program will help extricate it from the current security dilemma and that reforms will help it advance.

Beijing should actively push the parties concerned to provide the DPRK with the desperately needed credible and effective security guarantees it seeks through the Six-Party Talks mechanism.

China should also firmly support the two Koreas' efforts to realize a self-negotiated reunification. An indefinite divisive status quo on the peninsula or any attempts at forced reunification will be against peace and stability and is against China's own interests.

The author is a research fellow with the China International Strategy Research Fund.

(China Daily 06/16/2011 page8)

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