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Cheney presses Beijing on N Korea's nuclear arms

US Vice President Dick Cheney, armed with new evidence of North Korea's weapons capabilities, told China yesterday it was critical to move forward aggressively to end Pyongyang's nuclear programs.

"Time is not necessarily on our side," a senior administration official said after Cheney held talks with Chinese leaders who have been brokering six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear programs.

"We think it's important to move forward aggressively," he said, but did not set a timetable.

The North Korean crisis has simmered since October 2002, when US officials say Pyongyang disclosed it was working on a clandestine nuclear weapons program.

Asian security issues have dominated the two days of talks in Beijing between Cheney and China's leaders, although both sides stressed overall Sino-US relations were sound.

In the course of a few hectic morning hours, Cheney met President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) and military chief and former president Jiang Zemin (江澤民).

Cheney summed up his talks saying he did not come expecting dramatic action.

"I didn't come expecting to alter Chinese policy," Cheney told reporters. "What you do is continue to work away at it."

Washington says intelligence from A.Q. Khan, a Pakistani scientist believed to have sold nuclear technology to North Korea as well as to Libya and Iran, provides third-party confirmation that Pyongyang probably already has nuclear weapons. US officials say they hope the information will end what they see as lingering Chinese doubts.

"Any question about whether or not North Korea had a program based upon highly enriched uranium has been pretty well resolved in our minds" following the breakup of the Khan network, the official said. "We are confident they do have such a program."

"These recent developments emphasize the need for completing the task here," the senior US official told reporters.

China has made no comment on the latest intelligence, but said yesterday that it hoped for progress towards further talks. The six parties have agreed to hold another round before the end of June.
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