China Votes In Favor Of UN Sanctions Against NK

After initially promising to veto any sanctions against N Korea, China voted today with the rest of the UN Security Council to impose stringent new sanctions on Pyongyang for it's testing of a nuclear device.

Until this morning questions from China and Russia had cast the timing of the document into doubt.

“I think we have some concern about what this resolution might lead to, especially peace and stability in the region,” Wang Guangya, the Chinese ambassador, said before entering a Saturday morning meeting of Japan and the five permanent Council members, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

He said that China was insisting on terms that were “firm” but also “appropriate,” a reference to Beijing’s worry that punishing steps could produce a backlash from North Korea.

He said that Beijing was particularly concerned about the resolution’s authorizing the international inspections of cargo going into and oedit on ut of North Korea. “Once it comes into operation, it could easily lead, by one side or the other, to a provocation of conflict, which could have serious implications for the region, for the countries,” he said.
nytimes.com

Well, this was certainly a pleasant surprise; maybe Kimmy will wake up and smell the coffee this time. If China and Russia both voted for the resolution after promising to stop it, then maybe the UN is finally going to do it's job and make sure KImmy is kept on a very short leash.Let's hope it works.


[edit on 10/14/2006 by Stormrider]

[edit on 14-10-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

It's good to know that China is willing. Even so, the actual nature of those sanctions leaves me cold. I'm glad to see some form of action from the U.N. security council, but the sanctions they've authorized wouldn't inconvenience most regimes. The gestures is symbolic.