Pelosi to push China over North Korea talks

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi later this week will press China¹s leaders to use their influence to bring North Korea back to negotiations on its nuclear program.
 
Pelosi (D-Calif.) said her delegation had always planned to press the Chinese on the issue, but North Korea¹s announcement Monday that it had successfully completed a nuclear test made the need more urgent.
 
{mosads}”These reported tests underscore the message our congressional delegation planned to deliver to top Chinese government leaders during our meetings later this week: the Chinese must use their influence to help bring North Korea to the table for the Six-Party talks,” Pelosi said in the statement.
 
The six parties in the talks are the U.S., China, Russia, Japan, South Korea and North Korea, which pulled out of those negotiations and has vowed not to return.
 
China¹s government on Monday criticized North Korea harshly for the latest test, stating it was resolutely opposed to the action.
 
North Korea “ignored universal opposition of the international community” in conducting the test, China¹s foreign ministry said.
 
China has been seen as the closest government to North Korea among the five other countries involved in the negotiations.
 
Pelosi, who has criticized China¹s human rights record in the past, is leading a bipartisan congressional delegation that also includes Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. Other members on the trip are Reps. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and Jackie Speier (D-Calif.).
 
Pelosi said if North Korea¹s announcement on its test is true, it would be a clear violation of a United Nations Security Resolution requiring that it not conduct further nuclear tests.
 
“Such action by North Korea is unacceptable and cause for great alarm,” she said.
 
Pelosi arrived in China over the weekend. She has been pressing the Chinese on climate change, while keeping a lower profile on any criticism of human rights in China.
 
Speaking to the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai on Monday, Pelosi avoided any direct criticism of China¹s record, while stating that protecting human rights has been “a top priority for me” throughout her congressional career.
 
“I will continue to speak out for human rights in China and around the world,” said Pelosi, who then cast protecting the environment as a human rights issue.