China press optimistic over North Korea talks

Many Chinese papers see a real chance for progress at the six-party talks, although some see more difficulties than others. The attitude of the United States is seen as key, as is flexibility by all sides.

The Communist Party's Renmin Ribao says North Korea could give substantial concessions if it gets security guarantees from the US, but Shanghai's Jiefang Ribao believes the talks will be a "complex and twisting process" and a breakthrough will be more difficult than previously.

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post argues that all parties must have the same goal - "to make East Asia stable".

COMMENTARY IN RENMIN RIBAO

Reliable security guarantees are a prerequisite for North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme, and a mark of the sincerity of the United States shown towards North Korea, and if the United States can fulfil such promises, I believe that North Korea will adopt substantial measures on the issue of abandoning its nuclear programme.

COMMENTARY IN XIN JING BAO

Efforts must first be made to establish strategic trust if the new round of the six-party talks is to make progress. Due to the relative weakness of North Korea, it is extremely sensitive about its strategic security, and the international community should give priority consideration to North Korea's security demands. The United States giving North Korea a written security guarantee would be a good move.

EDITORIAL IN HONG KONG'S SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

Each of the six nations involved in the talks starting in Beijing today to get North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons programme has a different position. As difficult as this makes the negotiations, their goal must be common: to make East Asia stable... This can only be achieved, however, if all parties put aside for now their individual concerns and work towards the united goal of making the Korean Peninsula nuclear-free.

COMMENTARY IN RENMIN RIBAO

Full implementation of the consensus reached in the '19 September' joint statement on achieving the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will be a very complex undertaking, which needs to be completed by the parties, but it cannot be done overnight or accomplished in one go... Its early completion will make an important contribution to building a new harmonious situation in north-east Asia.

COMMENTARY IN SHANGHAI'S JIEFANG RIBAO

North Korea is not going to concede easily in the six-party talks... It seems that if the United States sees no substantive moves by North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme, it will not give up either... The extent of this complex and twisting process and the difficulty in achieving a breakthrough will far exceed the previous round of the six-party talks.

COMMENTARY IN XIN JING BAO

Direct contacts or even confrontation between the United States and North Korea within the framework of the six-party talks should help to accelerate the negotiation process. Therefore, the relevant parties, especially the United States, ... need to maintain a certain degree of flexibility.

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