"The North Korean nuclear threat is about as real and serious a threat as we could have anywhere in either the region or the world. That's the sobering message," he said after meeting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

"We spent quite a bit of time discussing North Korea.

"The hopeful message is that all relevant countries are working very hard to achieve a stable, guaranteed, peaceful outcome, one that also guarantees that North Korea doesn't have a nuclear capacity.

"And no other country is more important than China."

His message coincided with Pyongyang repeating its warnings that it would not dismantle its nuclear arsenal unless the United States offered assurances that it would drastically change its policy toward the North.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency again demanded a non-aggression pact and diplomatic normalization between the two sides at six-party talks starting in Beijing on August 27.

Howard, who said Australia's and China's goals regarding North Korea were virtually identical, has offered to provide experts and help in any verification program concerning Pyongyang's weapons programs.

Australia is one of only a handful of Western nations to have diplomatic ties with North Korea and has been outspoken on the need for China, the North's closest ally, to take an active role on persuading it to abandon its suspected smuggling of illegal drugs and weapons of mass destruction.

Howard is on his fourth visit to China and his first since new leadership headed by President Hu Jintao took over the running of the world's most populous nation earlier this year.

As well as Wen, Howard meet Hu, parliamentary head Wu Bangguo and military chief Jiang Zemin.

Despite hosting US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage last week, Howard said he was carrying no message from the US administration.

"I'm not carrying any messages for anybody except messages from the Australian people and messages from my own government," he told reporters.

"We have a full-blown, very mature, very constructive relationship with China."

Howard is a key ally of US President George W. Bush and praised the way Beijing and Washington had worked together to facilitate the upcoming nuclear talks as "a very positive thing".

The Australian premier is primarily in China to become acquainted with the new leadership after cultivating a prosperous relationship with Beijing since taking office in 1996, and he was careful not to upset the momentum.

Human rights were discussed but not dwelt on.

"Yes, it was discussed, both of us expressed satisfaction with the human rights dialogue," he said.

Australia in 1997 became the first country to engage China in bilateral dialogue on human rights.

Since the two countries forged diplomatic relations 31 years ago, China has become Australia's third largest trading partner and fourth largest export market, with two-way trade worth 23 billion dollars (15 billion US) in 2002.

During talks Monday both sides agreed to hold official-level discussions in Canberra and Beijing in September and October on a framework economic and trade agreement that would include talks on a possible bilateral free trade pact.

All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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