Chinese question quality of US intelligence about North Korea
So who didn't see this one coming a mile off? Since the intel on Iraq was bad, it just stands to reason that the next time Bush cried 'wolf' that it would be a hard sell.
China Questions U.S. Data on North Korea
By JOSEPH KAHN
Published: March 7, 2005
BEIJING, March 6 - The Chinese foreign minister, Li Zhaoxing, expressed doubt on Sunday about the quality of American intelligence on North Korea's nuclear program and said the United States would have to talk to North Korea one-on-one to resolve the standoff.
Mr. Li's assessment, made at an extended news conference during China's annual legislative meeting, amounted to a double slap at the United States. Washington has repeatedly sounded the alarm about North Korea's nuclear efforts and has pressed China, North Korea's only significant ally, to be more active in seeking seek a solution.
[...]
"Concerning whether North Korea already has nuclear weapons or anything about the question of uranium enrichment, I think that here you may know more than I do," Mr. Li said. "Or to put it another way, I definitely don't know any more than you do."
Mr. Li's comments suggest that since the Bush administration accused North Korea of violating a bilateral agreement on its nuclear arms program more than three years ago, China has come no closer to accepting Washington's contentions that North Korea already has as many as eight or nine plutonium-based nuclear bombs and is aggressively pursuing a second, less easily monitored method of producing nuclear fuel through enriching uranium.
Re: Chinese question quality of US intelligence about North Korea
I get the feeling reading that article that the Chinese are playing pretty much everybody like fiddles. I have a genuine appreciation for deft diplomatic maneuvering, and it looks to me like China has got that down pat.
Chinese question quality of US intelligence about North Korea
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A republic, not an empire.
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