The U.S. rejection of bilateral talks has not met with universal support
among American foreign policy experts.
"I don't think you restrict your conversations to your friends. At the same
time, it's got to be hard-nosed. It's got to be determined," former Secretary of
State James A. Baker III, who held the post under President George H.W. Bush,
said on ABC's "This Week.
Getting Beijing and South Korea to support
energetic diplomacy and potentially tough sanctions against North Korea is seen as crucial
to efforts to make North Korea give up its nuclear weapons program.
China and South Korea have argued for engagement and resisted sanctions, but
North Korea's latest nuclear-test threat has hardened Japan's line.
Japan helped usher a stern statement through the U.N. Security Council on
Friday that urged North Korea to cancel its nuclear test and warned of
unspecified consequences if it did not comply.
"We need to transmit a message to North Korea that unless it revokes its test
plans, it will face isolation from international society and its situation
will deteriorate," Abe said before leaving Tokyo on Sunday.
The positive tone of Abe's visit to China - his first major test on the
international stage - may have caught North Korea by surprise.
China called the summit a positive step toward resolving a bitter rift over
official visits to a Tokyo war shrine and flaring territorial disputes.
Abe, despite a reputation for advocating a more patriotic and powerful Japan,
made China his first overseas trip because of the anger over former Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the Yasukuni war shrine, which
many in Asia see as a symbol of Japanese militarism.
Abe stuck to his policy of neither confirming nor denying whether he will
visit the shrine. But he said he would "act appropriately" and apologized for
Japan's wartime brutality.
"Japan caused tremendous damage and suffering," he said after meeting Hu.
"But in the 60 years since the war, we have walked a path of peace and
democracy."
Though he offered nothing new, Abe's approach seemed to work.
"This visit is the first by a Japanese prime minister in five years, which
represents a positive turn in our relationship," Hu said after greeting Abe in
the Great Hall of the People.
 | 1 | 2 |
