CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts -- After North Korea accepted six-nation talks, the Bush administration was quick to claim victory for its hardline approach toward North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's regime. But a close examination of the diplomatic activity in the region over the past few months shows that the breakthrough was due more to concerted Chinese efforts to facilitate a comprehensive resolution to the crisis.
A traditional power broker behind the scenes, Beijing has taken a visible role in encouraging Kim to re-engage in negotiations with the United States. While its efforts bore fruit with the April trilateral talks among U.S., North Korean and Chinese representatives in Beijing, the opportunity was squandered because of a lack of an overall negotiating framework. The North Koreans and the Americans had rigid points from which they would not budge. Pyongyang wanted concessions for freezing and then dismantling its nuclear-weapons programs, while Washington wanted a nuclear rollback before beginning substantive talks.
Left solely to the North Koreans and the Americans, the nuclear crisis will increasingly threaten stability in Northeast Asia. What then is to be done?