VZCZCXRO7288
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHBJ #0309 0360908
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 050908Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7970
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIJING 000309 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2020 
TAGS: PREL MASS PARM CH KN KS JA TW
SUBJECT: (C) PRC COOPERATION ON SIX-PARTY TALKS, DPRK 
LIKELY UNAFFECTED BY TAIWAN ARMS SALE PIQUE 
 
REF: A. BEIJING 248 
     ¶B. BEIJING 260 
     ¶C. BEIJING 268 
     ¶D. BEIJING 269 
     ¶E. BEIJING 270 
     ¶F. BEIJING 281 
     ¶G. BEIJING 296 
 
Classified By: Classified by POL Minister Counselor Aubrey Carlson. 
Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) PRC, South Korean and Japanese contacts believe that 
Chinese efforts in the Six-Party Talks process will not 
suffer from Chinese anger at the recent U.S. decision to sell 
arms to Taiwan.  MFA Asia Department Korean Peninsula Affairs 
Office Director Mao Ning told PolOff February 3 that 
working-level contacts between the U.S. Embassy and the MFA 
had not changed, and she had "no guidance" to suggest that 
the Chinese position on Korean Peninsula denuclearization 
would be affected by the Chinese reaction to the U.S. arms 
sale decision.  This was the case, she added, despite the 
fact that the Chinese government and the Chinese people were 
"genuinely angered" by the arms sale. 
 
¶2. (C) Tomohiro Mikanagi, First Secretary (political) in the 
Japanese Embassy in Beijing, told PolOff February 5 that the 
possibility that Chinese cooperation on DPRK issues might be 
affected by the arms sale had previously been a Japanese 
concern, but the Embassy now believed that that would not be 
the case.  He said the DPRK issue "now has become too much of 
a Chinese issue" for China to suspend its efforts out of 
anger with the United States.  Mikanagi said the Japanese 
Embassy had "tested this idea" thoroughly with contacts in 
the Chinese government, as well as with security experts 
outside government, and found that this was a consensus view 
among DPRK experts. 
 
¶3. (C) ROK Embassy Political Counselor Yeo Seung-bae told 
PolOff February 4 that the ROK Embassy was confident that the 
DPRK issue would not suffer as a result of the Taiwan arms 
sale.  Yeo said that despite MFA statements that PRC 
cooperation on "regional issues" would be affected as a 
result of the arms sale, the ROK Embassy assessed that this 
referred to cooperation on an Iran sanctions resolution at 
the United Nations, not cooperation on DPRK or the Six-Party 
Talks. 
 
¶4. (C) Renmin University International Relations scholar Shi 
Yinhong told PolOff February 4 that unlike Iran, North Korea 
was "a special case" that would not be affected by the 
current U.S.-China friction over the Taiwan arms sale. 
Ministry of State Security-affiliated China Institutes for 
Contemporary International Relations Director for North 
American Affairs Dr. Yuan Peng agreed in a conversation with 
PolOff February 5.  "DPRK and Six-Party Talks is too much a 
Chinese issue, almost a core issue for China," Yuan told 
PolOff.  "China cannot show its anger by action on DPRK 
issues, or it will hurt China." 
HUNTSMAN