BEIJING, Feb 26: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday urged China to use all its influence with North Korea to ensure the reclusive Stalinist state moved ahead quickly with nuclear disarmament.

With the clock running down on the Bush administration, Rice used her trip to China and a meeting with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to call for a renewed push to end a two-month impasse with North Korea over its denuclearisation.

“I’m expecting from China what I’m expecting from others — that we will use all influence possible with the North Koreans to convince them that it’s time to move forward,” Rice told a joint press conference with Yang.

China chairs the six-country talks that are aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear programmes. The other members of the forum are the United States, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia.

China is regarded as having the most influence with the leadership in Pyongyang because it is the North’s closest political ally and one of its most important trading partners.

A landmark six-nation deal reached in February last year offered the North a million tonnes of fuel oil, normalised ties with the United States and Japan and a formal peace treaty, if it scrapped all nuclear programmes and material.

In the current phase, the North agreed to disable its atomic plants and fully declare all nuclear programmes by the end of last year. But it missed the deadline amid a dispute with the United States over the declaration.

The United States believes the North has still not given a full account of its nuclear activities, with particular concern over a suspected highly enriched uranium project.

Washington also has suspicions North Korea has transferred nuclear technology to Syria and other countries.

The North, meanwhile, has accused the United States of bad faith in the disarmament process.

Rice insisted the United States would keep its commitments made in the six-party process, as long as North Korea did.

Yang sought to highlight “important progress” that had already been made in the six-party process, despite the current delays, while saying that China was in close talks with the North Korean government.

Rice said meanwhile that North Korea’s hosting of the New York Philharmonic concert on Tuesday was “good thing” but a far cry from what needs to happen.

“It’s a society that certainly needs ways to open up, but it’s a long way from playing that concert to changing the nature of the politics of North Korea,” Rice said.

Rice said she would like to see broader cultural exchanges as part of the six-party process, including seeing North Korean students come to the United States.

Asked if she would visit North Korea, Rice replied that she had no plans to do so.

Rice began her tour in South Korea on Monday and will complete it Wednesday in Japan. US officials said one of the primary aims of her Asian trip was to kickstart the North Korean disarmament process.

But in Beijing, Rice and Yang also discussed a wide range of other topics, with China saying the two nations had reached an agreement to restart a bilateral human rights dialogue that was suspended in 2004. Rice, who raised three cases of alleged human rights abuses with Yang, said she was pleased the Chinese had agreed to the dialogue and the sides would be in touch to set a date for the talks.

US concerns about the safety of Chinese industrial and food exports were also a focus, while Rice reiterated US opposition to a plan by Taiwan to hold a referendum on UN membership next month, a move that has deeply angered China.

They also discussed US-led efforts in negotiations with Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany for another round of sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear programme.

Yang expressed support for the US-backed dual-track approach of rewarding or punishing Tehran depending on whether or not it halts sensitive nuclear work.—AFP