US official says American and Chinese officials still disagree over North Korea and Iran

US official: At odds with China over NKorea, Iran

BEIJING — The United States and China are still at odds about how to deal with North Korea over the sinking of a South Korean warship it has been blamed for, a senior U.S. official said Sunday. They also remain apart on the specifics on new U.N. sanctions to impose on Iran over its suspect nuclear program, the official said.

On the eve of two days of high-level, U.S.-China talks, the official said China is not yet convinced that North Korea was responsible for the sinking of the South Korean vessel despite an international report that found it responsible. The official also said the two sides have not yet agreed on the details of penalties to impose on Iran.

The official spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to describe discussions held at a private dinner hosted by a top Chinese official for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton ahead of the talks. Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are the U.S. co-chairs of the two-day strategic and economic dialogue with the Chinese.

The differences outlined by the official underscore the difficulties the Obama administration faces in trying to improve cooperation with China, particularly on international security issues. Both issues will be the subject of intense consultations over the course of the next two days, the official said.

The U.S. official said that during the dinner the American side raised with the Chinese the seriousness with which the United States and its allies South Korea and Japan take the March ship sinking, which the report blamed on a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine.

The Americans also told the Chinese that it was important for Washington and Beijing to work closely on the matter, which the U.S. and South Korea say is a serious breach of the armistice that ended the Korean War, the official said. South Korea is expected to announce on Monday that it will take the issue to the U.N. Security Council.

The official would not discuss the steps that South Korea would announce but said there had been close consultation between Washington and Seoul and that the U.S. would support whatever the South announces.

The dinner was hosted by Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo.

China, North Korea’s primary ally and benefactor, holds a permanent, veto-wielding seat on the Security Council and its support for any action there will be key. It has called the sinking “unfortunate” but has said little else about it publicly.

The U.S. official said that the Chinese were not ready to support such action and were still seeking proof of North Korean involvement in the sinking of the ship.

On Iran, the official said that while China had agreed in principle to a new Security Council sanctions resolution, there was still substantial work to do with Beijing on the specifics, including the names of Iranian companies and individuals that would be hit with penalties.

Those details are to appear in annexes to the resolution, which was agreed to in general last week by the five permanent members of the Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — along with Germany after months of painstaking negotiations.