North Korea's nuclear ambitions remain the "most daunting security issue" facing Asia, while the risk of a Sino-US confrontation over Taiwan has increased, a leading think-tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said today.
Six-nation talks about North Korea's self-professed nuclear programme have made "almost no progress" since they began in 2003, the IISS said in its annual report.
LONDON (AFX) - North Korea's nuclear ambitions remain the "most daunting security issue" facing Asia, while the risk of a Sino-US confrontation over Taiwan has increased, a leading think-tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said today.
Six-nation talks about North Korea's self-professed nuclear programme have made "almost no progress" since they began in 2003, the IISS said in its annual report.
"North Korea's efforts to build nuclear weapons remains the most daunting security issue facing the region," it said.
Pyongyang has boycotted the nuclear disarmament talks, which also involve the US, South Korea, Russia, Japan and China, since June last year, and this February declared itself to be a nuclear-armed country.
Nonetheless, the continued stand-off has had some positive benefits for Washington, the IISS said.
"Pyongyang's roguish behaviour had the effect of strengthening Japan's, South Korea's and China's relationships with the US," it said.
"With the continued diplomatic stalemate and North Korea's slow motion nuclear build-up, the prognosis for resolving the crisis remains uncertain," the report concluded.
However, while the threat from North Korea has stayed generally stable, "the risks of a US-China confrontation over Taiwan appeared to increase incrementally", the think-tank said.
Tensions were raised in March, when China's parliament passed an anti-secession law giving its military the legal basis to use "non-peaceful" means to halt any moves by Taiwan to formally declare statehood.
Washington provides military hardware for Taiwan, and the island has long been a major irritant in relations with Beijing.
This, along with other factors such as US opposition to the ending of an EU arms embargo on China, meant that the relationship between the US and China "no longer seems as secure as before", the IISS warned.
Overall, the 2004-5 period was "not a good one for Chinese diplomacy", the think-tank said, noting a series of fallings-out with neighbours such as Japan, as well as the tensions with Washington.
Elsewhere in Asia, US aid for Pakistan and pragmatic tolerance for President Pervez Musharraf's "anti-democratic tendencies" had helped keep a key US anti-terrorism ally in power, the IISS said.
And while Pakistan's immediate tensions with India over the disputed Kashmir region had abated, India's build-up of conventional arms "suggested the new government in New Delhi was sceptical about medium-term prospects for a new deal", it added.
In Afghanistan, while security in much of the country remained "tenuous", there had been successes.
During 2004, "significant movement was made in the construction of both a durable national political infrastructure and political society in Afghanistan", the IISS argued.
