(C) PRC COOPERATION ON SIX-PARTY TALKS, DPRK

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIJING 000309

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2020
TAGS: PREL MASS PARM CH KN KS JA TW
SUBJECT: (C) PRC COOPERATION ON SIX-PARTY TALKS, DPRK
LIKELY UNAFFECTED BY TAIWAN ARMS SALE PIQUE

REF: A. BEIJING 248

B. BEIJING 260

C. BEIJING 268

D. BEIJING 269

E. BEIJING 270

F. BEIJING 281

G. BEIJING 296

Classified By: Classified by POL Minister Counselor Aubrey Carlson.
Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) PRC, South Korean and Japanese contacts believe that
Chinese efforts in the Six-Party Talks process will not
suffer from Chinese anger at the recent U.S. decision to sell
arms to Taiwan. MFA Asia Department Korean Peninsula Affairs
Office Director Mao Ning told PolOff February 3 that
working-level contacts between the U.S. Embassy and the MFA
had not changed, and she had "no guidance" to suggest that
the Chinese position on Korean Peninsula denuclearization
would be affected by the Chinese reaction to the U.S. arms
sale decision. This was the case, she added, despite the
fact that the Chinese government and the Chinese people were
"genuinely angered" by the arms sale.


2. (C) Tomohiro Mikanagi, First Secretary (political) in the
Japanese Embassy in Beijing, told PolOff February 5 that the
possibility that Chinese cooperation on DPRK issues might be
affected by the arms sale had previously been a Japanese
concern, but the Embassy now believed that that would not be
the case. He said the DPRK issue "now has become too much of
a Chinese issue" for China to suspend its efforts out of
anger with the United States. Mikanagi said the Japanese
Embassy had "tested this idea" thoroughly with contacts in
the Chinese government, as well as with security experts
outside government, and found that this was a consensus view
among DPRK experts.


3. (C) ROK Embassy Political Counselor Yeo Seung-bae told
PolOff February 4 that the ROK Embassy was confident that the
DPRK issue would not suffer as a result of the Taiwan arms
sale. Yeo said that despite MFA statements that PRC
cooperation on "regional issues" would be affected as a
result of the arms sale, the ROK Embassy assessed that this
referred to cooperation on an Iran sanctions resolution at
the United Nations, not cooperation on DPRK or the Six-Party
Talks.


4. (C) Renmin University International Relations scholar Shi
Yinhong told PolOff February 4 that unlike Iran, North Korea
was "a special case" that would not be affected by the
current U.S.-China friction over the Taiwan arms sale.
Ministry of State Security-affiliated China Institutes for
Contemporary International Relations Director for North
American Affairs Dr. Yuan Peng agreed in a conversation with
PolOff February 5. "DPRK and Six-Party Talks is too much a
Chinese issue, almost a core issue for China," Yuan told
PolOff. "China cannot show its anger by action on DPRK
issues, or it will hurt China."
HUNTSMAN