China's reluctance likely to push back 3-way dialogue with Japan, U.S.+

WASHINGTON, July 29 Kyodo -
The first trilateral policy dialogue planned by Japan, the United States and
China for as early as this month is likely to be pushed back as Beijing insists
it would anger North Korea, sources close to U.S.-China relations said
Wednesday.

The dialogue session was planned to take place in Washington, with Japan
represented by Koro Bessho, deputy vice foreign minister and director general
of the Foreign Ministry's Foreign Policy Bureau, and the United States by
Anne-Marie Slaughter, the State Department's policy planning director. A
similar-ranking Foreign Ministry official was expected to represent China.
But Beijing turned cautious about the holding of the session after Pyongyang
test-fired missiles and detonated a nuclear device earlier this year, and
relayed to Tokyo and Washington its view that a meeting at this juncture is not
appropriate, the sources said.
It appears that there might be another reason for China's backward-looking
manner other than North Korea, because the idea of holding a three-way dialogue
was first floated by China and the issue surrounding North Korea had not been
included on its agenda.
Beijing may be less interested in the trilateral session involving Japan as the
inauguration of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue has underscored
the focus by the U.S. administration of President Barack Obama on relations
with China, the sources said.
The first session of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue took place
in Washington this week, agreeing to step up cooperation in a number of fields
such as ridding North Korea of its nuclear weapons and lifting the global
economy out of recession.
The annual dialogue was set up during a bilateral summit between Obama and
Chinese President Hu Jintao in London in April. The second round of the
dialogue will be held in Beijing next year.
==Kyodo
2009-07-30 22:26:03