Restoring peace in Northeast Asia

Just three days before President Xi Jinping's visit to the Republic of Korea, Kim Jong-un, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea leader, attended a tactical rocket firing drill prompting many to speculate that Pyongyang is not happy with the visit.

Indeed, China has criticized the DPRK for conducting three nuclear tests. But it's not true that there has been a fundamental shift in China's DPRK policy. China still believes that one of the most urgent tasks in the region is to resolve the DPRK nuclear issue, but it still wants the countries engaged in the peace process to view Pyongyang's safety concerns more seriously.

On Monday, the DPRK urged that the two sides on the Korean Peninsula cease hostile military activities from later this week. This is an important development, and the countries eager to restore permanent peace in the region should respond suitably to the DPRK's proposal instead of regarding it as just an inane gesture.

The security situation in Northeast Asia is more serious than the other three sub-regions surrounding China - Southeast Asian, South Asian and Central Asian regions. Compared with the other three sub-regions, the Northeast Asian region's security dilemma can be overcome mainly by building a security mechanism and establishing multilateral exchanges. But since the necessary conditions for building a multilateral security mechanism in Northeast Asia are lacking, more efforts should be made to establish trilateral economic cooperation among China, the ROK and Japan.

Besides, the Six-Party Talks should be resumed as soon as possible. The DPRK's diplomatic relations have not normalized with either the ROK or Japan, and Sino-Japan ties have deteriorated because of the dispute in the East China Sea. So it has become more urgent to establish multilateral exchanges, and improve cultural and people-to-people relations.