China ups the North Korean nuclear stakes

A top Chinese Communist Party official has flown to North Korea, where he was expected to urge the isolated government to resume stalled talks on its nuclear weapons programs.

The visit by Wang Jiarui, head of the Chinese Communist Party’s international department, follows North Korea’s announcement last week that it has nuclear arms. It was not clear how long Wang would stay in the North.

Washington hopes Beijing – North Korea’s last major ally – will use its economic influence on the North to get it to stop developing nuclear weapons. China is an indispensable source of fuel and trade for the impoverished North.

However, Beijing has insisted that it has little influence over the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

China will likely use “patient diplomacy, plus some persuasion, plus some economic incentives, plus some political concessions from the US and South Korea” to lure the North back to the six-country talks, Fan Jishe, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think tank, said earlier.

The talks involve the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan.

North Korea says it is boycotting the talks until Washington abandons what it calls a hostile policy toward the North.

In recent days, China has repeatedly called for “patience and calm” from all involved parties, and has said it did not believe sanctions would work against North Korea.