There is a Communist version of Chinese checkers. It's more subtle -- and more diagonal -- than the comparatively simple game of chess. When Deng Tsiaping set the Chinese cat among the capitalist pigeons, he knew that while growth might be possible during conflict, a great leap forward was impossible. He knew that slogans couldn't replace butter. Then, China decided to reduce tensions with the two Asian powers that either were or could become a challenge to its dream of economic pre-eminence in Asia. Japan responded almost immediately, India more slowly. But now formal relations with both are excellent.

Obviously, neither Pakistan nor North Korea created their nuclear programs merely to feed China's interests. They had powerful domestic compulsions: In Pakistan's case, India's nuclear might, and in North Korea's case, as a guarantee against possible American aggression. But China could not have dreamt of a better scenario: It has outsourced the aggressive element of nuclear geo-strategy. Whether you call it incidence or coincidence, both India and Japan have to deal with a nearby nuclear missile aimed at their heads.

North Korea's nuclear capacities could not have survived one day without Chinese support. And now that the bomb has triggered Korean nationalism across the southern border, there is an even greater political potency to the North's missile. So many birds have been killed with one stone-age bomb.

China has not "emerged" as a regional superpower; it has merely confirmed what the region has known for some time. Perhaps this is now repeating the obvious, but the 6-nation talks will not remove the North Korean bomb. Instead, the talks will buy time and indefinitely delay meaningful decisions. Tehran must be monitoring this all with extreme interest.