LOS ANGELES -- China is acting in bad faith on the Korean nuclear issue. That's the provocative suggestion now coming from some Western intelligence circles. It's a scary, foul and ultimately upsetting thought. It may also be wrong.
The nasty rumor re-surfaced in the aftermath of China President Hu Jintao's official visit to Washington last month. During the 90-minute session (why only 90 minutes?) of direct talks at the White House between Hu and President George W. Bush, the contentious question of North Korea's nuclear-weapons program arose, as expected. But some accounts characterize Hu's response to the need to achieve de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as far less emphatic than Bush's.
If such alarming reports are true, this would be curious -- at best. The principle of a nonnuclear Korea -- for both Koreas, whether divided or even (someday) united -- is a core agreement in the statement of principles hoisted last year by members of the six-party talks as evidence of diplomatic progress. Since 2003 these talks have been organized and hosted by Beijing. They have become the principle vehicle of the dogged multinational effort to reduce North Korea-sourced tensions in the region.