When I saw the AP headline “Boyish US Envoy Becomes Hearthrob in China,” I knew immediately who it was about. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia, Christopher R. Hill – chief nuclear negotiator with North Korea -made a brief visit to Wellington last year, and one of my lecturers arranged a roundtable discussion with Vic Uni IR students. He seemed genuinely enthusiastic about talking to us – unsurprising, maybe, when he spent most of the rest of the visit with Helen Clark and Winston Peters. He was charismatic, flattering us by saying our questions were far better than those of Clark or Peters, and deftly defusing the anti-American tone of some of the questions. Even better – his knowledge and analysis of the seemingly intractable six-party talks was unequalled. (More about that experience and the simulated six-party talks we did afterwards, in this post)
This is the sort of publicity most politicians would kill for…
“He’s so charming and attractive,” said Li Kenna, a desk clerk at the five-star hotel Hill stays at in Beijing. “He sometimes asks me how I am in the mornings,” she said. “He’s one of our nicest guests.”
Christopher Hill is popular in Beijing – if the cellphone screensaver shown above is any indication – but now he’s a diplomatic superstar, as well. Passport’s report late last year of the demise of the six-party talks (“Failure in the six-party talks was inevitable”, 12/26/2006) was greatly exaggerated, but gives a good idea of the difficulties of his position:
Our sympathies are with Mr. Hill, sandwiched as he is between the unrealistic demands of the White House and the unstable negotiating tactics of Pyongyang.
First, Hill must deal with Mr. Bush’s North Korea policy: bluster and saber-rattling one day and pleading for a return to talks another…
But the Bush administration’s negotiating foibles pale in comparison to the calculated unpredictability of the North Koreans.
It’s great to hear of Christopher Hill’s success in getting the North to agree to denuclearize. The agreement is probably the best we can hope for at this stage, removing any imminent danger and avoiding a dangerous collapse. $400 million in aid is a small price to pay. Strong Chinese pressure was probably an important factor, but Christopher Hill can take credit for some excellent diplomacy. As Thomas Barnett said before the agreement was signed:
Chris Hill would go down as the administration’s most successful diplomat if he can pull this off.
It’s interesting, though, that the agreement could have been signed six years earlier, if the State Department had gotten it’s way.
As an aside, Chris Hill is ArmsControlWonk Jeffrey Lewis’ “favourite diplomat”. From his site, a couple of classic Hill quotes:
NPR: There is one nuclear reactor in North Korea that experts say could produce a nuclear weapon. Is that at the heart these discussions?
HILL. Well, to be sure, there is a nuclear reactor at a place called Yongbyon in North Korea, not to be confused with Yongpyong in South Korea, which is actually a ski resort.
And my personal favourite:
Q: Can’t you at least get a Yongbyon freeze? That would seem to be a…
HILL: Oh, you think that’s easy? [Laughter] I’ll tell you what — put that boom microphone down and you get it done and I’ll buy you a beer.
Do you think Pyongyang will hold up their end of the bargain?
Left by subadei on February 15th, 2007