Today the Commission will be addressing a subject that in my view is the highest priority in our legislative mandate, namely the Chinese role in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles to terrorist-sponsoring states. While Chinese firms continue to be involved in troubling transfers of WMD-related materials to states of concern, there is no more ominous threat to the viability of global non-proliferation mechanisms than the burgeoning nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula. Among the nations in the region, China by far possesses the greatest amount of economic and political leverage to advance efforts to defuse this crisis. So, notwithstanding China's own record on proliferation, the unfolding events on the Korean peninsula present China with a special opportunity to bring North Korea back from the brink.

As we convene this hearing, the U.S. and its allies, as well as China and North Korea, are cascading toward a historically important crossroad fraught with danger for our country and the world. In short, will North Korea continue to proceed with the reprocessing of some 8,000 spent fuel rods to extract plutonium for the production of reportedly six or more nuclear warheads to be added to the handful of nuclear weapons North Korea claims it already possesses? If Pyongyang completes the current reprocessing of these fuel rods, in the absence of a dramatic use of Chinese leverage, it would be no exaggeration to observe that the nuclear weapons- and proliferation-related crisis on the peninsula would have, to a large extent, reeled out of control. Published reports indicate that this new echelon of proliferation peril and nuclear threat could eventuate well within the next six months.

Accordingly, this Commission is properly focusing today on the most pressing dimension of the broader Chinese proliferation challenge. Will North Korea be permitted to nuclearize, despite the President's strong statements that such a circumstance would be intolerable? Will Pyongyang be allowed to secure the capability to produce a nuclear weapon a month for the better part of a year? Is the North Korean leadership serious about its stated intention potentially to transfer nuclear materials or weapons to third countries or groups? Does Chinese leadership genuinely recognize the imminent danger confronting the international community associated with the loss of most of its policy options (already very limited) to harness and reverse North Korean nuclear capabilities and associated proliferation activities? Will China act decisively, in this short window, to head off the draconian choice between a de facto nuclearized North Korea and high-risk military action by the United States and a coalition of the willing?

These are among the questions before us. Together, they unmistakably represent both a momentous test of the U.S.-China relationship and China's leadership role in the region and the world. Our Commission has never considered a set of issues as defining as those we will discuss today. With that rather somber introduction, I would like to turn the proceedings over to our hearing Co-Chairmen, Commission Vice Chairman Dick D'Amato and Commissioner Robert Ellsworth.