China is "cautiously optimistic" about the nuke talks
Yeah, i bet they are.

they know damn well a couple of things:

1. first of all, china knows that they are at least somewhat culpable for this disaster of n. korea possessing the nukes. they also know that if n. korea starts flaunting those nukes as they very well might, japan and taiwan will probably get nukes too.

china doesn't want a re-militarized japan with a nuke. its a trump card.

2. there's big money at stake. n. korea doesn't give a rat's ass about trade with the US, (just opium and arms trade with the middle east) but china has big stakes in this. if something goes wrong, china will be culpable.

3. china realizes that the US is trying to make this an "asian" problem, as they might. south korea's people and govt call for the end of the US "occupation" and are rabidly anti american. the US should pull out of the border area and let the south koreans handle this problem. call their bluff.

getting back to china, they realize that to settle this one, they may have to step up and engage the north along with other neighbours. they can't count on the US figuring it out for them.

Officials here said North Korea is contemplating a U.S. proposal that Pyongyang, Washington and Beijing convene a second round of trilateral meetings and then immediately expand it to include Seoul, Tokyo and possibly Moscow.

hmm. ic. a wide dialogue with the people who actually are at stake here. i don't know why the US feels the need after so many years of protecting and coddling the ingrates of south that they don't pull out whole hog. i kind of hope they do.

The Financial Times reported Wednesday that South Korea has rejected the U.S.'s position that the U.N. Security Council should settle the nuclear standoff. It quoted Foreign Minister Yoon as saying "it may be better if we can resolve this issue through diplomatic channels outside the U.N. framework."

yep. trying to throw this one grenade in the lap of the US alone.