At a seminar organized by the Brookings Institution on stalled six-party nuclear disarmament talks, Jing said many Chinese experts believed it was the U.S. that stood in the way of a peaceful resolution because it focused on regime change and the collapse of the Stalinist country instead of genuine dialogue. Jing served in the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s U.S. affairs division before heading to the Brookings Institution to study Sino-U.S. relations.

He said the security of the regime remained Pyongyang's biggest concern, because it feels threatened by U.S. descriptions of it as part of an “axis of evil” and an “outpost of tyranny” despite U.S. vows not to invade the country. He said if Washington showed flexibility and greater respect for Pyongyang, the six-party talks could restart soon and produce concrete results.

Turning to calls for Beijing to pressure Pyongyang to come back to talks, Jing said China was in no position to tell North Korea what to do, and even if it were the North would not listen. He warned economic sanctions or other pressure on the reclusive country could have side effects.

Jing said public opinion in China was against pressuring North Korea, a nation many Chinese soldiers died fighting for during the Korean War, to help the U.S., which they consider the biggest barrier to unification with Taiwan. China is therefore left with the role of mediator in the six-party talks, he said.

(englishnews@chosun.com )