Experts discuss China's role, N Korea in nuclear meeting

Debate over whether China should explain more about its nuclear arsenal and ways to revive North Korea's stalled denuclearisation process featured at a two-day experts' meeting on nuclear nonproliferation, participants said today.
    
The regional meeting of the International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament brought together lawmakers, former diplomats and scholars mainly from
Northeast Asia for the gathering in Beijing from Friday. The meeting is being held so the region's views could be incorporated in an overall report the commission, which is an
initiative funded by Australia and Japan, plans to compile later this year.
    
Among the topics was whether China can do more to boost transparency about its nuclear arsenal, former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, co-chair of the commission, said at a press conference.
    
The topic in particular was whether China can contribute to boosting disarmament momentum by being ''more transparent in making clear what the size of its arsenal is, and making clear what its intentions are so far as modernization and expansion are concerned,'' Evans said. ''There was some reluctance on the Chinese side to go much further at this stage.''
    
On North Korea, participants were largely united in the view that the door for dialogue should be kept open to deal with the country, which has announced its pullout from the
six-party denuclearization talks.