China at odds with US over sanctions on DPRK

China has clashed with the US in its bid to push the UN Security Council to "give North Korea a chance" after Pyongyang successfully put a satellite into orbit last week.

Gary Locke, US ambassador to Beijing, said Monday that China and the United States are deeply divided over the best way to tackle North Korea's flouting of Security Council resolutions on using ballistic technology.

However, "the Chinese believe that we need to give North Korea a chance, that we need to help them develop economically," said Locke.

It could take weeks for the Security Council to take any formal move, and there is no guarantee that they will agree on any new sanction measures, AFP quoted unnamed diplomats as saying.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice demanded last week that the Security Council make it clear that North Korea will face "consequences" for its actions.

Rice and China's UN envoy Li Baodong clashed during closed Security Council negotiations on a statement released Wednesday, diplomats said.

The following day, China's foreign ministry said any Security Council response had to be "prudent, appropriate and conducive to peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and avoid the escalation of the situation."

Cui Zhiying, director of the Center for Korean Peninsula Studies at Tongji University, said that sanctions would not work on North Korea, and the most urgent thing is not to overreact and escalate the situation.

North Korea is determined to develop its rocket and nuclear technology, Cui said.
He noted that China itself cannot solve this issue, and the joint efforts of all the neighboring countries and the US are needed to work toward a better direction.

China is trying to restart the Six-Party Talks, but the US Monday vowed to increase pressure on North Korea over its repeated breach of obligations, and ruled out renewal of six-party talks for now, Xinhua reported.

Beijing has helped the North set up free trade zones and encouraged other countries to invest in the isolated state in the hope "that might lessen the isolation of North Korea and therefore hope that might influence their foreign policy and similarly their military policies," Locke said.