China, N. Korea set to confront U.S. on defense

China, N. Korea set to confront U.S. on defense

HANOI (AFP): China and North Korea were expected to confront
the United States over its planned missile defense system when
officials meet here for an ASEAN Regional Forum this week,
diplomats said on Monday.

"The issues cover a vast area and any country can raise any
issue. I think China and North Korea will raise the missile
defense and of course other countries will raise it too," one
diplomatic source told AFP.

U.S. President George W. Bush has launched a coordinated
offensive and dispatched several U.S. teams to capitals around
the globe to drum up support for the National Missile Defense
(NMD) program.

James Kelly, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and
Pacific Affairs, is leading a team touring Asia. His delegation
is due to arrive here for the ASEAN meeting late Wednesday after
leaving Beijing. The North Koreans were expected to arrive late
Tuesday, a Vietnamese source said.

China is among the strongest opponents of NMD saying it
violates the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty signed by the
former Soviet Union and the U.S. in 1972, which forbids the
development of missile defense systems.

Washington says NMD is aimed at protecting the U.S. and its
allies from rogue states such as North Korea and Iraq.

"It won't surprise me. I'm expecting the Chinese and the North
Koreans to raise the missile issue," another western diplomatic
source said.

Sources also said there were no plans for a trilateral meeting
between North Korea, the US and South Korea at the forum,
although one diplomat added "a brief chat" was possible.

"As of now there are no plans for a meeting," the source told
AFP. "It could be theoretically possible but there are no such
plans."

Speculation had risen that the first talks between North Korea
and the U.S. since the election of George W. Bush to the White
House could take place on the sidelines of the gathering.

All three sides will be in Hanoi for the May 15-19 meeting and
the diplomatic source confirmed Pyongyang will send a three-
member delegation, headed by Ri Yong-ho from North Korea's
foreign ministry.

"I think that (speculation of a trilateral meeting) is the
product of an over-active imagination," the diplomatic source
said.

Rapprochement talks between North and South Korea have stalled
since the Bush administration took power and announced a review
of its policy towards Pyongyang.

The previous administration of Bill Clinton had sought to back
Seoul's efforts to prize Pyongyang out of its shell and achieve a
reconciliation on the Korean peninsula.

But the U.S. policy review was seen as signaling a shift in
stance towards the communist state, with the new administration
making no secret of its distaste for the regime led by Kim Jong-
Il.

However, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said
last week the review was nearly complete, sparking some hope of
rejuvenating South Korea's "Sunshine Policy".

"I suspect that we will (be talking with the North) in the
near future," Armitage said.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The ASEAN Regional
Forum encompasses 23 ASEAN and outside countries.