Global Security Newswire

U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey on Wednesday said he was optimistic China would work to restrict North Korea's nuclear weapons development even while it is not yet apparent what steps Beijing would take, the New York Times reported.

The "Chinese leadership is as concerned as we are with North Korea's march toward nuclearization and ballistic missile technology," the top U.S. military officer said in Beijing. He added that the Chinese government has "given us an assurance that they are working on it.. ... But I didn't gain any insights into particularly how they would do that."

China is North Korea's principal trading partner and lead international defender. As such, Washington believes Beijing is best positioned to positively influencing Pyongyang's foreign policy.

Dempsey was in China for talks with top officials including President Xi Jinping and the Central Military Commission's vice chairman, Gen. Fan Changlong. Such high-level bilateral military talks have not been held in almost two years.

Pyongyang still has a window of opportunity to take steps to improve regional relations, according to Dempsey. "We certainly hope they take the opportunity to do so," Reuters quoted him as saying.

Since North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un came to power in late 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, the country's "provocations have been somewhat prolonged," Dempsey noted. "What that means is that I think the risk of miscalculation is higher, and I think the risk of escalation is higher."

On Thursday, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations released a statement at its 22nd summit calling for the removal of all nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula and the speedy revival of the long-dormant six-nation negotiations on North Korean denuclearization,  the Xinhua News Agency reported.