George W. Bush in In My Time, by Vice President Dick Cheney

On Foreign Policy: 2001: Multilateral approach with China against North Korea

Effective diplomacy requires that we think strategically. The president did just this when he insisted in 2001 that we get the Chinese engaged in our efforts to convince the North Koreans to give up their nuclear program. We also brought in the Russians, the Japanese and the South Koreans. The president saw that North Korea was already so isolated and under such extensive sanctions that the United States alone had little ability to bring significant pressure to bear. However, a multilateral approach that included China might well have the ability to pressure Pyongyang. We lost opportunities to encourage the Chinese to play a more constructive role. In the immediate aftermath of North Korea's nuclear test in October 2006, for example, the Chinese were upset, particularly because Pyongyang gave them only an hour's notice of the test. We should have used that moment of leverage to bring our partners in the six-party talks together--with the Chinese in the lead--to put true pressure on the North Koreans. Source: In My Time, by V.P. Dick Cheney, p.492 Aug 30, 2011

The above quotations are from In My Time A Personal and Political Memoir by Dick Cheney with Liz Cheney. Click here for other excerpts from In My Time A Personal and Political Memoir by Dick Cheney with Liz Cheney. Click here for other excerpts by George W. Bush. Click here for a profile of George W. Bush.
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