Op-ed: Sustain talks on Korean Peninsula until good outcomes achieved

The Korean Peninsula has entered into a critical period for dialogue, as a summit will be held between the Republic of Korea (ROK) President Moon Jae-in and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) top leader Kim Jong Un in late April, and US President Donald Trump has reportedly agreed to meet Kim by May.

These positive changes among the intensive high-level interactions between the ROK and DPRK since the PyeongChang Winter Olympics have been applauded by the international community and drawn heated discussions.

But some concerns, ambivalence and worries mixed the harmonious atmosphere and bullish attitude towards the US-DPRK dialogue. Some media reports are bearish about whether the dialogue will really happen, after reviewing the evolution of the Korean Peninsula issue.

Some others doubt the actual effects of the dialogue, worrying about the post-dialogue situation on the peninsula. Some experts calculate gains and losses the dialogue might bring to concerned countries.

But all voices come to a clear conclusion that the development of the situation on the peninsula is much better than the eyeball-to-eyeball stalemate before.

“At present, the positive changes in the situation on the Korean Peninsula are conducive to putting the denuclearization process back on the right track of settlement through dialogue”, Chinese President Xi Jinping told his US counterpart Trump via a phone conversation on March 9.

Clear awareness of this will help relevant sides take control of the current situation, make the right choice at the important moment, and make more achievements in pushing the Korean Peninsula issue toward the direction that the international community commonly expects.

Up to now, there have been tensions, turnabouts and light on the Korean Peninsula issue. The key reason for the lingering tensions on the peninsula is a lack of trust between the DPRK and the US.

Security and development are the common need of all parties concerned and the standard to measure their sense of security. In order to maximize the interests of all involved in the complicated issue, all sides must pursue a concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security.

Security and development promote each other, this is not only the ROK and the DPRK, but also all parties concerned should keep in mind, in order to promote long-term peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

The progress made on the Korean Peninsula issue, though seemingly unexpected, is an inevitable trend. The sudden change of the situation resulted from the DPRK and the US’ willingness to improve relations, the efforts of the ROK in promoting the DPRK-US dialogue, as well as China’s role as mediator to solving the issue.

China’s role and solutions have been witnessed by the whole world over the last few days. In his phone conversation with Xi, Trump said that the US side highly appreciates and values China's significant role in resolving the Korean Peninsula issue.

Chung Eui-yong, top national security advisor for Moon, thanked China for its important leading role in helping with positive changes on the Korean Peninsula, during his meeting with Xi on March 12.

These comments have fully recognized China’s positive and unique role, and its persistent promotion of peaceful resolution to the Korean Peninsula issue.

As a close neighbor of the Korean Peninsula, for a long time, China has stood for the settlement of the nuclear issue, and supported all relevant parties to solve their reasonable security concerns via dialogue and consultation and advance the process of denuclearizing the peninsula.

China, though not a country directly involved in the issue, has never stopped its efforts for denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Besides a full-on and strict implementation of all DRPK-related resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council, the country has been stressing that sanction is a means not a purpose, and the pressure imposed by sanctions should be turned into the impetus for dialogues.

The situation on the peninsula is moving toward the same direction as China’s advocates. The country believes that the core at the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue is security, and as two involved parties, the DPRK and the US should conduct dialogue as soon as possible, improve mutual understanding and build mutual trust.

Facts have proved that China's suspension-for-suspension proposal is a right prescription in creating the basic conditions needed for improving inter-Korea ties.

China’s proposals in solving the Korean Peninsula issue will be important for maintaining the positive momentum on the Korean Peninsula.

Those proposals include synchronized, reciprocal and coordinated steps taken by all parties concerned, the principle of "commitment for commitment, action for action" included in The September 19 Joint Statement, and the dual-track approach of remaining committed to the goal of denuclearization and working actively to establish a peace mechanism on the Peninsula.

In order to move forward dialogues on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, China has also put forward to launch bilateral and multilateral dialogues by lowering the threshold and taking synchronized and small steps.

China has played and will play a positive and unique role in denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula through dialogue and negotiation. Undoubtedly, China always makes choices based on the long-term interests of people on the Korean Peninsula and sustained regional peace and stability, demonstrating a responsible attitude in a real sense.

The country will continue to play its unique role in getting the talks started and sustaining the talks till good outcomes achieved.