June 20, 2006 :: Financial Times :: News
Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee, recently discussed the threat from North Korea in an interview with the Financial Times. In particular, McCain warned of possible regional destabilization between Japan and China if North Korea goes ahead with its test launch of its Taep’o-dong 2 long-range ballistic missile.
We all know what happens if they [North Korea] continue to make this kind of progress and that is the Japanese will acquire missile defence systems and eventually will have to acquire offensive weapons which we know they could readily do given the technology capability they have. The key to all this as we all know is China. It seems to me it is not in China’s interest to see this kind of destabilisation. They’re doing very well and exacerbation of tensions in the region cannot be in their interest. So why they don’t put more pressure on the dear leader is something I simply do not understand. … Depending on what we find out about what North Korea is doing and what its intentions are, we have to ratchet up the importance of the issue in our relationship [with China].
McCain also reiterated his previous opposition to the 1994 U.S.-North Korea Agreed Framework, in which North Korea was provided with 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil annually, at no cost, in exchange for suspending its nuclear program. The Framework, supported by the Clinton administration, was and still is viewed by many as blackmail on the part of North Korea, and appeasement on the part of the U.S. According to McCain, the program was “neither verifiable nor enforceable,” and did not do much except “maybe put a billion dollars into the Korean coffers.” (Article)
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