Global Geopolitical Series: China voices opposition to Vancouver meeting

Foreign ministers and related delegations from 20 countries attended a meeting, held January 15-17, and seeks to achieve the goal of a “secure, prosperous and denuclearized Korean peninsula,” according to its organizers.

Here is the list of countries that attended the meeting,

• Canada (Co-Chair), United States (Co-Chair), Australia, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, France, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Kingdom

Though there were no official invitations, Moscow and Beijing, which do not belong to Vancouver group of countries officials, were welcomed to attend the end of the meeting to check out its results. The proposal was turned down and criticized by both Russia and China. Both of these countries are likely to get briefed on the outcome despite their absence.

China on Tuesday again voiced its opposition to the meeting waring that bringing out cold war era ghosts are not helpful to the cause. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a routine press briefing, "Since this meeting does not have legitimacy or representativeness, China has opposed the meeting from the very beginning….While countries are committed to finding a proper solution for the peaceful settlement of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, some parties hold such a meeting in the name of the so-called United Nations command during the Cold War era. We do not know what the purpose of convening such a meeting is."    

Ministers at the meeting reportedly agreed to exert maximum pressure on North Korea via means of stringent sanctions to achieve c complete and verifiable de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.